US House Votes to Weaken Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection

WASHINGTON - The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday voted 241-173 to pass a bill that would weaken the newly formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The bill was supported by members of the financial services industry, including the American Bankers Association, the American Financial Services Corporation, the Mortgage Bankers Association, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The bill was opposed by a collection of unions and consumer groups, including the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Consumer Watchdog, the Greenlining Institute, the NAACP, and the SEIU.

• Interest groups that supported this motion (Commercial banks & bank holding companies, Banks & lending institutions, Financial services & consulting, etc.) gave on average 54% more to House members who voted 'YES' ($33,191) than to House members who voted 'NO' ($21,503). Commercial banks & bank holding companies gave on average 83% more to House members who voted 'YES' ($20,949) than to House members who voted 'NO' ($11,461).
• Interest groups that opposed this motion (State & local govt employee unions, Minority/Ethnic Groups, Consumer groups, etc.) gave on average 4.1 times as much to House members who voted 'NO' ($25,725) as they gave to House members who voted 'YES' ($6,250).
• Interest groups that supported this motion gave on average 85% more to House Democrats who voted 'YES' ($39,682) than to House Democrats who voted 'NO' ($21,438). Commercial banks & bank holding companies gave on average 121% more to House Democrats who voted 'YES' ($25,182) than to House Democrats who voted 'NO' ($11,403).
• Only one Republican, Rep. Walter Jones of North Carolina, voted against the measure.

Methodology: MapLight analysis of campaign contributions to House members in office on day of vote, from interest groups invested in the vote according to MapLight, January 1, 2009 - December 31, 2010. Contributions data source: OpenSecrets.org.

A link to this data release and a spreadsheet of MapLight's data analysis can be found here.

MapLight is a nonpartisan political money tracker.