House to Vote on Derivatives Bill That Was Written by Citigroup Lobbyists

Map Light – by Donny Shaw

Later this week, the House of Representatives will be voting on a bipartisan bill to repeal financial bailout protections that Congress passed in 2010 as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The bill, H.R. 992 or the “Swaps Regulatory Improvement Act,” would severely limit the reach of Sec. 716 in Dodd-Frank, which requires banks that are eligible for Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or Federal Reserve lending discounts to spin off their derivatives activities into separate corporate entities that would not be eligible for federal assistance.  

According to the New York Times, lobbyists from Citigroup played a major role in the bill’s creation: “Citigroup’s recommendations were reflected in more than 70 lines of the House committee’s 85-line bill,” Eric Lipton and Ben Protess write. “Two crucial paragraphs, prepared by Citigroup in conjunction with other Wall Street banks, were copied nearly word for word. (Lawmakers changed two words to make them plural.)”

Data: MapLight analysis of campaign contributions to members of the House of Representatives from interest groups supporting and opposing H.R. 992 from January 1, 2011—December 31, 2012. Data source: OpenSecrets.org

• Citigroup has given $503,150 to current members of the House of Representatives.
• Representative Jim Himes, D-Conn., has received $66,450 from Citigroup, more than any other member of the House of Representatives. Himes is a co-sponsor of the bill.
• Co-sponsors of the bill have received, on average, 16.8 times more money from Citigroup than have members of the House who have not signed on as co-sponsors.
• Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has received $917,500 from interests supporting the bill, more than any other member of the House of Representatives.
• Representative Randy Hultgren, R-Ill., the primary sponsor of the bill, has received $136,500 from the Securities and Investment industry, more than from any other industry.

For MapLight’s previous analysis on H.R. 992 and the influence surrounding it, see our posts from when the bills passed theHouse Financial Services Committee and the House Agricultural Committee.

Image credit: TonyTheTiger/Wikimedia Commons

http://maplight.org/content/73351/citigroup-derivatives-bailout-bill-House-HR992