CHOICE Act Met with Partisan Disagreement But Passes Committee

After failing to vote on the bill again on Wednesday, the debate over the CHOICE Act in the House Financial Services Committee extended into Thursday as was finally passed by the committee with a vote of 32-24 along party lines. Partisan lines were drawn by the provisions of the CHOICE Act, a replacement for the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. The CHOICE Act seeks to significantly curtail the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) rulemaking, enforcement, and supervisory authority.

Committee Democrats proposed two changes to the CHOICE Act related to the CFPB during the markup. First, House Democrats sought to keep the independent funding source of the CFPB in tact. They also submitted an amendment that would maintain the agency’s unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts and practices (UDAAP) authority promulgated in the Consumer Financial Protection Act. Both proposals were voted down on Wednesday by the committee’s Republican majority.

 
The arbitrary and inconsistent application of CFPB authority has been a heated topic of interest recently in Congress and Indian Country. The CHOICE Act is expected to pass the House, but will likely need considerable bipartisan support in the Senate to reach the desk of the president.