It’s only a House bill, so far. But it is troubling for a couple of reasons.
The bill, which reauthorizes the agency’s mandate, would reverse the CFTC’s tough rules on US businesses’ swaps with counterparties abroad, requiring it to draw up a new regime together with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In addition, the law would make the agency’s staff responsible to the full five-strong commission, not just its chairman, which critics said would slow down decisions. It also subjects all the agency’s decisions to cost-benefit analysis, a tool that opponents of regulation have used to defeat rules in court.
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We need to loosen the minimal regulations on financial derivatives about as much as we need to go fix Iraq again. These, as Warren Buffett once said, financial instruments of mass destruction were at the core of the recent financial meltdowns. Letting them rip again and expecting a different result is like believing in the free market fairy.
The vote was 265 to 144. Mostly Republicans giving their sponsors (and their jerkwad dittoheads) what they want. The breakdown of the House of the 113th US Congress (as of 3/11/14) is 233 Republicans, 199 Democrats, and 3 vacancies. Thus, at least 32 Democrats voted for this POS.
Will post a link to the vote by members of the House when it becomes available.
Update #1 –
Here’s the House Roll Call.
46 Democratic Representatives vote “Aye.” The Obama administration opposed this bill.