With Republicans having failed to enact major changes to Dodd-Frank so far, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) wants to attack the law through the budget process.
A Cruz aide confirmed that the senator is seeking support to "repeal" Dodd-Frank through the budget reconciliation process—a move that could keep Dodd-Frank supporters from filibustering the measure.
Cruz said in a speech last month that Dodd-Frank changes could be included in tax reform legislation, which could be protected from a filibuster.
"Dodd-Frank is great if you're a giant financial institution," Cruz said, in a speech at an event sponsored by the Tax Foundation, a think tank. "It is lousy if you're a local community bank, if you're a credit union. And the four years after Dodd-Frank, community banks lost market share at a rate double what they were losing before then. Twelve percent versus six percent."
Cruz has not specified what changes he will push through the budget process.
Senate Banking Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Id.) and his Democratic counterpart, Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio have been working on their own legislation to make changes to the banking regulatory regime.
However, the senators have not yet unveiled their proposal.
Adding Dodd-Frank changes to budget reconciliation is a lengthy process.
First, the budget resolution that is being marked up by the Senate Budget Committee later this week, would have to direct the Senate Banking Committee to find a specified amount of savings. That could be changes to Dodd-Frank.
Whatever savings the committee finds and approves would be combined with savings proposals from other committees into a large budget reconciliation bill. That bill also could be the vehicle for tax reform legislation.
Even then, any Dodd-Frank changes could be subject to a point of order on the Senate floor if it does not conform to budget rules.
The House will be considering its budget resolution on the floor this week. That budget resolution simply assumes passage of House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling's (R-Texas) Financial CHOICE Act, which would overhaul Dodd-Frank.
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