Passage of the CHOICE Act by the House Financial Services Committee could signal a further blow to conflict of interest regulations adopted by the Obama administration.
The Financial Services Committee has approved the CHOICE Act for consideration by the full House of Representatives, a move considered by some to be the first real step towards Congressional repeal of Dodd-Frank regulations and the Department of Labor (DOL) fiduciary rule.
The legislation is sweeping and would undue or replace much of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reforms adopted by Democrats when they held significant majorities in the wake of the 2008-09 financial crisis.
Interestingly, in the executive summary of the CHOICE Act published by the Republican members on the Financial Services Committee, there is only one very brief, single-bullet-point mention of the DOL fiduciary rule—and this bullet point comes at the very end of the document. It is probably too much to read into that symbolic detail, but the CHOICE Act’s impact on the DOL fiduciary rule, and even on particular elements of Dodd-Frank, could potentially be renegotiated by the full House and Senate.
“Improvements to financial regulations can lead to economic growth, while still protecting taxpayers and consumers,” argues FSR CEO Tim Pawlenty.