A sweeping House GOP bill would give the president new powers that could limit the independence of certain regulatory agencies.

House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling last week unveiled an outline of his bill aimed at dismantling the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial regulatory reform.

At the top of Republicans’ long wish list: handing the president authority to fire the heads of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a consumer watchdog agency, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, at any time for any — or no — reason.

Today, Cordray and Mel Watt, the director of the FHFA, could only be ousted from their role “for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.” It’s rare for presidents to try to remove an official even with for-cause protections.

The bill, called the Financial Choice Act, would also give Congress purview over the CFPB’s budget, meaning lawmakers could defund the agency entirely.

Hensarling’s bill would do more than simply reshape how Wall Street is regulated. It would also give the president greater authority over a number of the agencies aimed at protecting the U.S. financial system, aiding consumers and slapping fines on wrongdoers.

“Making the CFPB director subject to the whims of the president would be a first of its kind action to centralize banking regulatory power solely in the hands of the president and would eliminate the independence long established by Congress,” Gregg Gelzinis, a special assistant for economic policy at the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank, wrote in a report released Wednesday.

And while it’s unlikely the Texas Republican’s bill would become law as proposed, it will help to shape the new regulatory landscape under President Trump.

Full Content: CNN

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