House OKs bill easing Wall St. rules

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Propelled by its enlarged Republican majority, the House has moved to ease a landmark law reining in banks and Wall Street, more than six years after a financial crisis brought on the Great Recession.

The vote was 271-154 on legislation that advanced a key priority of the Republicans. Approval of the bill came swiftly in the second week of the new Congress despite a veto threat from the Obama White House. The measure now goes to the Senate, where it will face strong opposition from liberal Democrats such as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

The legislation in the House bypassed the customary slog of committee work and revisions. It probably won’t move through the Senate as quickly. Though the Republicans now control the Senate as a result of November’s elections, GOP senators would be more likely to work on compromises with their Democratic colleagues and to put the legislation through a process of hearings and debate.

In the House, 29 of 188 Democrats joined the near-unanimous 242 Republicans to vote for the measure.

The bill alters sections of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial overhaul. That law had tightened government oversight of banks and financial markets with an eye toward preventing another crisis and another taxpayer bailout of banks. Most notably, the measure passed Wednesday would give U.S. banks two extra years — until 2019 — to ensure that their holdings of certain complex and risky securities don’t put them out of compliance with a new banking rule.