Crunch time for auto dealer lobbying

Auto dealers are facing the toughest fight yet in their effort to win an
exemption from new financial regulations.

The dealerships waged a high-stakes battle in the House and won an exemption in
December from a new consumer financial protection regulator that is part of
much broader financial legislation targeting Wall Street. Auto dealers last
week won non-binding support in the Senate for the same carve-out. Republican
and Democratic lawmakers have given their backing.

{mosads}The auto dealers are now at a critical juncture. A small group of House and
Senate lawmakers are headed into a month-long conference to finalize the
legislation and send it to President Barack Obama before the July Fourth
recess.

The lawmakers making up the conference have not all been named yet, but Democrats
in the House and Senate slated to take part in the negotiations are
overwhelmingly opposed to the exemption. Republicans headed to the conference
are supportive, but they are outnumbered by the Democrats. The White House
is expected to ratchet up its already vocal campaign against the carve-out.

“We’re not taking our foot off the pedal,” said Bailey Wood, spokesman for the
National Automobile Dealers Association, the powerful lobbying group
that has pushed for more than a year for the exemption.

“They still have to get this bill back through the House and Senate. There will
be an increased amount of White House meddling. The forces are against us,”
Wood said.

The lobbying group is focusing closely on lawmakers expected to make up the
conference negotiations.

The Senate on Monday named seven Democrats and five Republicans to make up their portion of the
conference. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.)
this week recommended eight Democrats for the conference.

Of the 20 lawmakers already expected to partake in the negotiations, only two
Democrats and five Republicans support the exemption.

The auto dealers won their first fight for the exemption
last October during a House Financial Services Committee markup. The committee
voted 47-24 in favor of the exemption, with 19 Democrats and all Republicans in
support.

But most of the committee’s senior Democrats — who will be in the conference negotiations — voted against the exemption.

Frank strongly opposes the exemption, and among those he recommended for the
conference, Democratic Reps. Paul Kanjorksi (Pa.), Mel Watt (N.C.), Luis
Gutierrez (Ill.), Maxine Waters (Calif.) and Gregory Meeks (N.Y.) opposed the
exemption last October. Democratic Reps. Carolyn Maloney (N.Y.) and Dennis
Moore (Kan.) supported the carve-out.

In the Senate, auto dealers strongly backed a similar amendment sponsored by
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.). The White House campaigned strongly against the
exemption, with Obama releasing a rare statement devoted
entirely to opposing the exemption.
 
In the vote last Monday, senior members of the Senate Banking Committee opposed
the non-binding motion to instruct conferees to exempt the auto dealers.
Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Sens. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) and Jack
Reed (D-R.I.) opposed the motion. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) was absent
during the vote; his office did not respond to repeated requests for comment
about his position.

Of the three other Democratic senators headed to the conference, Sens. Patrick Leahy (Vt.) and Tom Harkin (Iowa) opposed the motion. Committee Chairwoman
Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) was absent during the vote. Her office did not respond
to requests for comment on Friday.

Republican Sens. Richard Shelby (Ala.), Bob Corker (Tenn.), Mike Crapo (Idaho)
and Judd Gregg (N.H.), all of whom will be part of the conference, supported
the motion. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) was absent during the vote, but the
senator supports the exemption, his office said on Friday.

“He doesn’t believe that we should seek out ways to add new regulatory burdens
to Main Street businesses that did not have a role in creating our recent
financial crisis,” the senator’s spokeswoman said on Friday.

House Republicans have not released a list of lawmakers headed to the
conference because House members have not been officially appointed yet.