Today, U.S. Congressmen Scott Peters (CA-52) voted against the Financial CHOICE Act, a bill containing many provisions that would gut Wall Street reforms and consumer protections put in place under the Dodd-Frank Act after the 2008 financial crisis. The bill eliminates the independence of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was set up to protect Americans from abusive financial practices and has helped nearly 29 million consumers. It also weakens critical safeguards, such as stress tests, that were put in place after the 2008 financial crisis to help prevent the collapse of large financial institutions. In previous years, Rep. Peters has voted against many members of his own party to support fixes to Dodd-Frank to expand access to capital for small businesses.

“While America was focused on the Comey testimony – which is serious in its own right – Congress took a dangerous step towards undoing the protections put in place to prevent another financial crisis,” said Rep. Scott Peters. “Dodd-Frank isn’t perfect, but it includes many important provisions to protect our banking system from a meltdown and ensure that American families don’t pay the price for predatory and abusive practices. Instead of throwing these protections out and risking another financial crisis, Congress should be making targeted, bipartisan fixes to cut red tape while making more capital available to entrepreneurs and small businesses.”