The House is expected to vote as early as Thursday on a bill which is designed to avoid the fiscal cliff. The bill would repeal the government's ability to seize failing financial institutions.
"The bill, which is designed to avoid the so-called 'fiscal cliff' - automatic spending cuts and tax hikes that will be triggered automatically next year unless a bill is passed - is the first time the GOP has tried to tie that issue with a rollback of the Dodd-Frank Act," writes American Banker's Victoria Finkle.
The Dodd-Frank Act's provisions would be directly targeted. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would be subjected to the Congressional appropriations process. The Home Affordable Modification Program would be shut down, and the Office of Financial Research would be eliminated.
"Obviously, it is entirely legitimate to debate aspects of this bill. But to jam fundamental changes into an overall spending bill in the closing days of a lame duck session, with very little debate and no process of amendment, is a travesty of the legislative process," said Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the lead Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, in a statement. "I understand the Republicans' reluctance to do some of these things openly, but that is no justification for either the substance or the tactics they are pursuing."
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