Today, U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-03) and the House Financial Services Committee passed the alternative to the failed Dodd-Frank Act – the Financial CHOICE Act.

“When Dodd-Frank was signed into law, it was sold to the American people as the solution to our economic woes and the crisis that left so many Americans financially insecure,” Luetkemeyer said. “Since the enactment of Dodd-Frank, community banks and credit unions, which serve as the lifeblood of many towns in Missouri, find themselves faced with regulations designed for the world’s largest, most complex financial institutions. Regulations are raising the cost of services and limiting the access to credit for their customers and driving our community banks out of business. Today, my colleagues and I on the House Financial Services Committee took the next step in offering a new model for financial opportunity.”

Before Dodd-Frank became law, 75 percent of banks offered free checking to their customers. By 2015, that number had fallen to 37 percent. The median household income has fallen by three percent and the personal savings rate has declined from 6.1 percent to 5.2 percent. In addition, last year in Missouri, there were 44 banks with less than $50 million in assets. Of those 44 institutions, 26 of them lost money.

Also included in the Financial CHOICE Act is Luetkemeyer’s bill, the Financial Institution Customer Protection Act, which would bring an end to Operation Choke Point. Operation Choke Point is an organized attempt from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Department of Justice to intimidate financial institutions from offering financial services to certain licensed, legally-operating industries the government doesn’t like in an attempt to choke off those industries from our country’s banking system.

Luetkemeyer is a senior member on the House Financial Services Committee and serves as the chairman of the Housing and Insurance Subcommittee. He also sits on the Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee.