Big Finance seems to have friends on the House Financial Services Committee.
On Thursday, the House Financial Services Committee approved H.R. 3126, which would create a new executive branch agency to oversee consumer financial protections and is known as the Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act.
Opponents of the legislative proposal received an average of 20 percent more in contributions from financial interests over the past two-and-a-half years than the bill’s supporters, a Center for Responsive Politics review has found.
The Center found that $527,500 is the average amount a committee member who voted “no” received from these financial groups’ PACs and employees. The average amount a member who voted “yes” received was $438,900.
All but two Democrats — Rep. Travis Childers (D-Miss.) and Rep. Walter Minnick (D-Idaho) — voted in favor of the measure, while all but one Republican voted against it.
Rep. Michael Castle (R-Del.), who is running for the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by Vice President Joe Biden, was the sole Republican to support the bill.
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the committee’s chairman, is the bill’s lead sponsor. The final roll call was 39-29. Committee members Reps. Ruben Hinojosa (D-Texas), Melissa Bean (D-Ill.) and Gresham Barrett (R-S.C.) were absent and did not vote.
Between January 2007 and June 30, committee members who supported the bill collected $17 million from the finance, insurance and real estate sector. This includes contributions to lawmakers’ campaign committees as well as leadership PACs.
By contrast, lawmakers who opposed the bill raised $15 million from the finance, insurance and real estate sector during this two-and-a-half year period.
For the full chart, see https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2009/10/congressional-opponents-of-con.html