{
  "id": "R44631",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "R44631",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 461261,
      "date": "2016-09-14",
      "retrieved": "2017-05-24T16:37:32.602382",
      "title": "The Financial CHOICE Act in the 114th Congress: Policy Issues",
      "summary": "The Financial CHOICE Act (FCA; H.R. 5983), sponsored by Chairman Jeb Hensarling, was ordered to be reported by the House Committee on Financial Services on September 13, 2016. The bill is a wide-ranging proposal with 11 titles that would alter many parts of the financial regulatory system. Much of the FCA is in response to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank Act; P.L. 111-203), a broad package of regulatory reform legislation that initiated the largest change to the financial regulatory system since at least 1999. Many of the provisions of the bill would modify or repeal provisions from the Dodd-Frank Act, although others would address long-standing or more recent issues.\nThis report highlights major proposals included in the bill but is not a comprehensive summary. In general, the changes proposed by the FCA can be divided into two categories: (1) changes to financial policies and regulations and (2) changes to the regulatory structure and rulemaking process.\nMajor policy-related changes proposed by the FCA include the following:\nLeverage Ratio\u2014allowing a banking organization to choose to be subject to a higher, 10% leverage ratio in exchange for being exempt from risk-weighted capital ratios, liquidity requirements, and other regulations.\nRegulatory Relief\u2014providing regulatory relief throughout the financial system to banks, consumers, and capital market participants, including by repealing the Volcker Rule, Durbin Amendment, and fiduciary rule.\nToo Big To Fail\u2014repealing the designation of systemically important financial institutions and emergency assistance and replacing an option for winding down systemic institutions with a new chapter in the Bankruptcy Code that is tailored to financial firms. \nThe FCA also includes structural and procedural changes that affect the balance between regulator independence from and accountability to Congress and the judiciary, including \nLeadership\u2014modifying the leadership structure of agencies with a single head to be bipartisan, multimember commissions.\nFunding\u2014subjecting regulators that currently set their own budgets to the traditional congressional appropriations process.\nRulemaking\u2014requiring regulators to perform more detailed cost-benefit analysis when issuing new rules and to use cost-benefit analysis to review existing rules, as well as requiring congressional approval for a major rule to come into effect.\nJudicial Review\u2014requiring courts to apply a heightened judicial review standard for agency actions taken by financial regulators rather than applying varying levels of deference to the agencies\u2019 interpretations of the law. \nEnforcement\u2014increasing the maximum civil penalties that could be assessed for violations of certain banking and securities laws and restraining certain agency enforcement powers.\nCFPB\u2014renaming the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as the Consumer Financial Opportunity Commission and modifying its powers, leadership, mandate, and funding.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
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      "topics": []
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  ],
  "topics": [
    "Appropriations",
    "Constitutional Questions",
    "Domestic Social Policy",
    "Economic Policy",
    "Legislative Process"
  ]
}