On Thursday morning in the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, Sen. Michael Crapo (R-Idaho) introduced an amendment to the Financial Regulatory Improvement Act to prohibit federal banking and credit union regulators from implementing or participating in the Obama Administration’s Department of Justice originated “Operation Choke Point.” In his remarks, Crapo aptly compared the administration’s logic in launching Operation Choke Point to the strategy used in the 2002 Tom Cruise movie “Minority Report,” as if it could be determined who might commit a crime (in this case fraud) ahead of any actual evidence of wrongdoing. In the real-world case, however, entire industries were targeted.
The amendment passed the committee on a 13-9 vote with Senator Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) joining the Republicans in voting in favor. NSSF has been working closely with both Senate and House of Representatives members to help ensure that financial service providers do not discriminate against law-abiding industry members simply because their business is related to firearms or ammunition. In offering the amendment during the committee hearing, Sen. Crapo referenced NSSF’s support for this legislative action.
Congressmen Question Justice Officials on ‘Choke Point’ The U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law this week held a hearing entitled “Ongoing oversight: Monitoring the activities of the Justice Department’s Civil, Tax and Environment and Natural Resources Division and the U.S. Trustee Program.” During the hearing several committee members questioned Justice Department officials about the ongoing ramifications of the department’s “Operation Choke Point” program. Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) spoke of the concerns he heard from NSSF member companies during a meeting with him held as part of NSSF’s annual Congressional Fly-In last month. Additionally, Congressmen Tom Marino (R-Penn.) and Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) also went on the offensive with Justice Department witnesses regarding the continuing issues the firearms and ammunition industry are having as a result of Operation Choke Point.
