The House Financial Services Committee today begins marking up a bill that would create a new consumer protections agency and increase regulation of a number of financial products, including credit cards, insurance, mortgages and "derivatives."Even as members of the committee consider how to prevent another economic collapse, they may have another financial issue in mind -- the industries opposing the measure have contributed $77.6 million to the 71 members of the committee since 1989, the Center for Responsive Politics has found.
Political action committees and employees in the finance, insurance and real estate sector have split their political contributions evenly between Democrats and Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee since 1989 (including contributions to both candidate committees and leadership PACs). In the first six months of 2009, Democratic members collected slightly more -- 57 percent of the total $7.6 million in funds from the sector.
Republican members of the committee have collected more, on average, from the financial sector since 1989 -- $1.3 million -- compared to the $932,250 that flowed to Democrats, on average. This trend has also been true since the start of the 2008 election cycle, during which a number of financial institutions failed, the nation's economic recession began and the financial industries began to anticipate that Congress would seriously consider additional regulation. Since 2007, the financial sector has given Republican members of the committee $548,050, on average, compared to $447,000 to Democrats.
The Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act of 2009 was introduced in July, and the committee this week will be working to amend, re-work and vote on parts of the bill. The two men leading the committee, Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Ranking Member Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) are among the top recipients of cash from the financial sector during the past two decades.
The financial sector has contributed $5.8 million to Bachus since 1989, more than any other member of the committee. Frank has brought in $3 million in that time -- only Bachus and Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises, have received more support from the industries.
Here are the top 20 recipients on the House Financial Services Committee of contributions from the PACs and employees of the financial sector (including donations to lawmakers' leadership PACs and candidate committees since 1989):
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala) | $5,784,622 |
| Rep. Paul E Kanjorski (D-Pa) | $3,900,754 |
| Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass) | $3,019,410 |
| Rep. Carolyn B Maloney (D-NY) | $2,959,482 |
| Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif) | $2,741,149 |
| Rep. Michael N Castle (R-Del) | $2,575,612 |
| Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) | $2,409,538 |
| Rep. Dennis Moore (D-Kan) | $2,272,116 |
| Rep. Melissa Bean (D-Ill) | $2,183,431 |
| Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) | $1,736,127 |
| Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif) | $1,725,079 |
| Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY) | $1,676,340 |
| Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-Pa) | $1,674,752 |
| Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill) | $1,649,717 |
| Rep. Ron Klein (D-Fla) | $1,595,466 |
| Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WVa) | $1,594,266 |
| Rep. Gregory W Meeks (D-NY) | $1,502,305 |
| Rep. Pete King (R-NY) | $1,468,728 |
| Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) | $1,453,903 |
| Rep. Don Manzullo (R-Ill) | $1,430,929 |
Seventy-one percent of Bachus' total contributions in the first half of 2009 came from the financial sector, while 45 percent of his total haul since 1989 are from various finance-related industries, according to a report from the Sunlight Foundation that uses CRP data. This indicates that the Republican's own financial health in his re-election campaigns has relied heavily on the sector that he's sided with in his opposition to the new regulatory agency.
"The administration plan would establish a massive new government bureaucracy known as the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, which consumers will ultimately pay for, on top of the regulatory patchwork that currently exists," Bachus said at a committee hearing in September. "Republicans are saying no to bail outs and no to the 'more of the same approach' of misguided government regulations and interventions which helped bring about this crisis in the first place."
Twenty-seven members of the committee received more than one-fourth of their total campaign contributions from the financial sector in the first six months of the year, according to Sunlight's Paul Blumenthal. And of those 27, 12 received more than 35 percent from the sector.
A number of financial organizations have been especially generous to the members of this committee.
The National Association of Realtors has given current members of the House Financial Services Committee $2.1 million since 1989, while the American Bankers Association has donated $2 million and the Credit Union National Association gave $1.7 million. Bank of America contributed $1.5 million, while JPMorgan Chase, which just reported a $3.6 billion profit in the third quarter, has given these legislators $1.1 million.
Here are the top 20 financial sector donors to the leadership PAC and candidate committees of the members of the House Financial Services Committee since 1989 (including contributions from the political action committees and employees of the sector):
| Name | Total | Dems % | Repubs % |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Assn of Realtors | $2,147,069 | 56% | 44% |
| American Bankers Assn | $1,997,757 | 49% | 51% |
| Credit Union National Assn | $1,667,642 | 52% | 48% |
| Bank of America | $1,476,866 | 47% | 53% |
| JPMorgan Chase & Co | $1,124,979 | 50% | 50% |
| Natl Assn/Insurance & Financial Advisors | $1,070,250 | 49% | 51% |
| PricewaterhouseCoopers | $1,054,947 | 44% | 56% |
| Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu | $1,025,992 | 41% | 59% |
| KPMG LLP | $979,022 | 39% | 61% |
| Citigroup Inc | $934,003 | 55% | 45% |
| Indep Insurance Agents & Brokers/America | $898,858 | 41% | 59% |
| American Institute of CPAs | $865,349 | 48% | 52% |
| AFLAC Inc | $856,500 | 51% | 49% |
| Independent Community Bankers of America | $789,424 | 49% | 51% |
| Morgan Stanley | $751,711 | 43% | 57% |
| Goldman Sachs | $727,260 | 69% | 31% |
| New York Life Insurance | $713,074 | 61% | 39% |
| UBS AG | $690,277 | 50% | 50% |
| Investment Co Institute | $669,523 | 63% | 37% |
| Ernst & Young | $665,556 | 46% | 54% |
A number of these organizations have dedicated a large chunk of their total political funds to members of this committee since the start of the 2008 election cycle. Forty-three organizations have given at least 30 percent of their total contributions to current House Financial Services Committee members in that time (including only organizations that have donated at least $100,000 overall during that time).
And 11 of those 43 have given more than half of their total to these members, including the Commercial Mortgage Securities Association, General Electric's financial division, credit reporting company Equifax Inc., the American Financial Services Association and the National Association of Mortgage Brokers.
The financial sector is also lobbying heavily against increased regulation, according to The Hill.
"A group of 17 trade associations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Financial Services Roundtable and Business Roundtable, sent a letter on Tuesday to House members in opposition," the newspaper reports.
In the first half of this year, the finance, insurance and real estate industry spent $224.6 million on lobbying, beat out only by the health sector, which spent $263.6 million during the same time.
CRP Senior Researcher Douglas Weber contributed to this report.
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