Voted “No” on H.R. 37

1/16/2014

On January 7th, the House voted on the Promoting Job Creation and Reducing Small Business Burdens Act (H.R. 37) under Suspension of the Rules, which required two-thirds of the House (287 votes) to pass. It failed.

On January 14th, H.R. 37 was brought back to the House floor under a new Rule that only required a simple majority of the House (218 votes) to pass. It passed.

I voted against H.R. 37 on both occasions because the legislation would roll back portions of the Dodd-Frank bill that was signed into law after the 2008 financial crisis. Specifically, H.R. 37 would allow banks that are federally insured to use their assets to engage in risky behavior related to derivatives and other financial trading practices that could ultimately result in taxpayers being on the hook for their losses. Additionally, H.R. 37 would extend the timeline that banks must comply with the Volcker Rule until 2019 (legislation passed in 2010 requires banks to adopt this Rule by 2017). By doing so, banks would be given an additional incentive and time frame to engage in short-term, speculative trading and investment practices at the expense of our country’s economic health.