Today, the House passed H.R. 766, the Financial Institution Customer Protection Act of 2015, by a bipartisan vote of 250-169. The bill was introduced last year in response the Department of Justice’s initiative known as “Operation Choke Point,” which has targeted legitimate and regulated industries and has caused them to lose access to financial services. After passage of the bill, Congressman French Hill (AR-02) stated:
“While the goals of Operation Choke Point to combat fraud may have been laudable, this initiative went much further targeting legal industries. I have heard from pawnbrokers in Arkansas—legally licensed and state and federally regulated—that have fallen victim to Operation Choke Point by having their bank services limited or discontinued and most recently, a firearms dealer that lost access to his payment processer. Hardworking and legitimate business owners should not have their operations adversely affected because their industry is unfairly targeted by this Administration. I am proud to support legislation that is essential to helping end the egregious abuse of executive power like that on display in Operation Choke Point.”
