House advances Dodd-Frank bills, debt ceiling disapproval

The House on Tuesday advanced two bills that would tweak financial reforms passed as part of Dodd-Frank, and a resolution that will get a vote this week disapproving of President Obama’s decision to suspend the debt ceiling.

Members voted 230-188 in favor of a rule covering all three measures.

{mosads}One of them is H.R. 2374, the Retail Investor Protection Act. This bill would delay pending regulations from the Department of Labor that would require certain financial institutions to meet fiduciary standards for retail investors.

“Currently, the Department of Labor is in the final stages of drafting a new definition of fiduciary standards for broker-dealers under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, known as ERISA,” said House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas).

“This new requirement would dramatically change a long-standing business model, and potentially diminish the ability of every day Americans to access quality investment advice.”

The second bill is H.R. 992, the Swaps Regulatory Improvement Act. This bill would expand the ability of banks to use certain financial swaps to hedge risk.

“Unfortunately, Section 716 of the Dodd-Frank Act would require banks and their customers to shift these practices out of a traditional bank model and place them in a newly created capitalized non-bank entity,” Sessions said. “Such a change to current business models would create unnecessary instability in domestic markets, and potentially restrict access to those financial services instruments.”

The bill also allows the House to vote today or tomorrow on H.J.Res. 99, which disapproves of Obama’s debt ceiling suspension. The House is expected to debate that resolution later tonight, and hold a roll call vote on it Wednesday.

However, the Senate is expected to shoot down a Senate GOP version of that resolution, making House action unnecessary. The disapproval resolution has no power to stop the debt ceiling suspension unless both chambers of Congress pass it, and then override President Obama’s veto.

Democrats indicated support for the Dodd-Frank bills, but spent much of the debate time arguing that GOP leaders should call up immigration legislation.