by Jeff Sovern
Here. Excerpt:
Faced with a choice between helping their constituents or helping themselves to a campaign donation haul, House Republicans are siding with deep pockets.
All but one of the House’s 234 Republicans voted last month to gut a powerful agency — the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — that banks, credit card issuers, debt collectors and other financial players have been seeking to weaken for years. No Democrats voted in favor of the measure.
These special interests routinely shower lawmakers with campaign cash: Commercial banks and their trade association political action committees (PACs) gave Republicans running for federal office in 2016 more than $9 million, nearly 75% of their total giving. Finance and credit company PACs handed over $2.8 million to GOP candidates.
Richard Hunt of the Consumer Bankers Association has an opposing column here. His column focuses on the CFPB's structure and doesn't address the content of the Financial Choice Act, which the USA Today editorial discusses.
