Which 36 Democrats Don't Think That Private Equity Should Have to Play by the Rules?

Today, the House voted 254 to 159 to exempt private equity firms from financial regulations enacted by the 2010 Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (aka "Dodd-Frank").

Here's Reuters on what the so-called Small Business Capital Access and Job Preservation Act (H.R. 1105) would do.

The bill would exempt many private equity fund advisers from a provision in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform law which required advisers with more than $150 million in assets under management to register with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Any firm that registers with the SEC is also subject to reporting rules and is required to open its books to agency examiners for routine compliance inspections.

Dodd-Frank also imposed more extensive confidential reporting requirements on larger private equity and hedge fund advisers in an effort to help U.S. regulators monitor possible broader systemic market risks.

Stephen Lynch (MA-07) explained the danger of the bill:

"One of the most important lessons that we did learn during the financial crisis is that systemic threats seem to always bubble up from the opaque and unregulated segments of the market," said Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.). "Giving this exemption will allow threats to once again grow in the dark corners of our financial system, only showing themselves when it is too late to prevent serious harm to the American taxpayer."

As I noted earlier, the bill passed 254 to 189. Only one Republican--Walter Jones (NC-03)--opposed it. 

 

36 Democrats supported it:

Ron Barber (AZ-02)
John Barrow (GA-12)
Ami Bera (CA-07)
G. K. Butterfield (NC-01)
Tony Cárdenas (CA-29)
John Carney (DE-AL)
Jim Cooper (TN-05)
Jim Costa (CA-16)
Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
Tammy Duckworth (IL-08)
Elizabeth Esty (CT-05)
Pete Gallego (TX-23)
Joe Garcia (FL-26)
Jim Himes (CT-04)
Steve Israel (NY-03)
Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18)
Ron Kind (WI-03)
Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-01)
Dan Maffei (NY-24)
Sean Maloney (NY-18)
Jim Matheson (UT-02)
Mike McIntyre (NC-07)
Gregory Meeks (NY-05)
Patrick Murphy (FL-18)
Bill Owens (NY-21)
Collin Peterson (MN-07)
Jared Polis (CO-02)
Mike Quigley (IL-05)
Nick Rahall (WV-03)
Raul Ruiz (CA-36)
Brad Schneider (IL-10)
Kurt Schrader (OR-05)
Terri Sewell (AL-07)
Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)
Juan Vargas (CA-51)
Marc Veasey (TX-33)

All of the bolded names are members of the DCCC's Front Line, aka the MoC's that get most of the money when you donate to the DCCC. Many of them have awful records on financial legislation because they vote with their donors, not their constituents.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (NY-12) offered an amendment to require private equity firms with U.S. assets worth anywhere from $150 million to $1 billion to register with the SEC but also to create a simpler registration process. The House rejected this 186 to 225.

Two Republicans voted for it: Walter Jones (NC-03) and Chris Gibson (NY-19).

Nine Democrats voted against it:

John Barrow (GA-12)
Jim Cooper (TN-05)
Jim Costa (CA-16)
Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
Jim Matheson (UT-02)
Mike McIntyre (NC-07)
Collin Peterson (MN-07)
Jared Polis (CO-02)
Kurt Schrader (OR-05)