Delaware’s John Carney backs Dodd-Frank revision

WASHINGTON – Rep. John Carney of Delaware was among 29 Democrats who voted Wednesday to roll back part of the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory law passed in response to the Great Recession.

The legislation would give banks two additional years — until 2019 — to sell off risky securities, or “collateralized loan obligations,” issued before Jan. 31, 2014. Most of the bill’s other provisions previously won approval by the House Financial Services Committee or the full House with strong bipartisan support.

The bill passed the House 271-154.

Progressive Democrats are fighting revisions they say would weaken Dodd-Frank, and President Barack Obama’s advisers said they would recommend a veto.

Carney said in a statement he’s voted against many bills attempting to undermine Dodd-Frank since coming to Congress in 2011, but this wasn’t such an attempt.

“The provisions in this bill have passed Congress overwhelmingly in years past,” he said. “Only now has it become distorted and mischaracterized for political purposes. I will continue to stand firm in supporting improvements to financial regulations that will protect consumers and help businesses create jobs. That’s why I voted for this bill.”

Republican Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said the bill is designed to create jobs and reduce burdens on small businesses.

“The community banks and the Main Street business that are trying to put America back to work are suffering under the sheer weight, load, volume and complexity and cost of the regulatory burden that has been imposed by our friends on the left,” Hensarling said on the House floor. “The left aims their rhetoric at Wall Street, but they vote against Main Street and hard-working American families, and those who want to work become collateral damage.”

White House senior advisers said in a statement Monday the bill would delay a key component of Dodd-Frank that prevents institutions from taking excessive risks through proprietary trading and fund investing.

“Taxpayers should not have to wait that long to have limits in place that protect them from risky practices,” the statement said.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called the measure a “Wall Street giveaway.”

“The interests of big banks should not trump those of American families that still struggle to make ends meet,” the California Democrat said in a statement following the vote.

Contact Nicole Gaudiano at ngaudiano@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ngaudiano.