Houses passes bill easing rules regulating Wall Street

WASHINGTON – Propelled by its enlarged Republican majority, the House has moved to ease a landmark law reining in banks and Wall Street, more than six years after a financial crisis brought on the Great Recession.

The vote was 271-154 on legislation that advanced a key priority of the Republicans. Approval of the bill came swiftly in the second week of the new Congress despite a veto threat from the Obama White House. The measure now goes to the Senate, where it will face strong opposition from liberal Democrats.

The bill alters sections of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial overhaul. That law had tightened government oversight of banks and financial markets with an eye toward preventing another crisis and another taxpayer bailout of banks. At the height of the financial crisis in late 2008, the government stepped in to rescue crippled banks – including the largest Wall Street institutions – with hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer money.

Most notably, the measure passed Wednesday would give U.S. banks two extra years – until 2019 – to ensure that their holdings of certain complex and risky securities don’t put them out of compliance with a new banking rule.

The House bill revises the so-called Volcker rule, a key part of the financial overhaul law, which would limit banks’ riskiest trading bets. That kind of risk-taking on Wall Street helped trigger the 2008 crisis.