US: The House to abolish Wall Street rules

House Republicans voted Thursday to deliver on their promise to repeal Dodd-Frank — the massive set of Wall Street regulations President Barack Obama signed into law after the 2008 financial crisis.

House Resolution 10, or the Financial Creating Hope and Opportunity for Investors, Consumers and Entrepreneurs (CHOICE) Act of 2017, passed by a vote of 233-186 in the lower chamber; eleven representatives did not vote.

"The Financial Choice Act is a jobs bill," House Speaker Paul Ryan said. "It is why we were sent here, to look out for the people who work hard and do the right thing."

The nearly 600-page Choice Act would repeal Dodd-Frank's Volcker Rule, which blocks government-insured banks from making risky bets with investments. It would also change the way federal law deals with failing financial institutions, which some critics say again supports a "too big to fail" approach.

The regulations of Dodd-Frank were enacted in 2010 by former President Barack Obama as a sweeping effort to put in place certain regulations that make another financial crisis less likely.

Though it passed the House Thursday, some lawmakers and experts don't believe it will be approved in its current form by the Senate, where the Republicans' majority is far slimmer. They say some provisions of the proposal, though, could make it through.

Speaking to reporters, Jeb Hensarling, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said: “Dodd-Frank represents the greatest regulatory burden on our economy, more so than all the other Obama-era regulations combined.” 

The first new parts of the 2010 law, which were completed last year under Obama's administration, are set to take effect Friday.

The Congressional Budget Office said recently that the CHOICE Act would reduce federal deficits by $24.1 billion over the next decade. The CBO warned, though, that the estimates are not definitive because it's difficult to predict when such a large financial firm might fail next.