If the Tea Party hates Wall Street, why isn't it protesting GOP efforts to dismantle Dodd-Frank?

As Congress boosts the chances of a bank bailout, the Tea Party has been awfully quiet

(Image credit: (REUTERS/Brian Snyder))

For a movement supposedly founded on opposition to the Wall Street bailout, the Tea Party’s people in Congress seem awfully keen to take the reins off the financial sector.

On Wednesday, House Republicans amended the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform bill to delay for two years a requirement that big banks sell off risky debt bundles that entangle them with hedge funds and private equity firms. At the end of last year, they rolled back a provision that would’ve forced banks to trade credit default swaps using subsidiaries that aren’t federally insured. The GOP is also taking a run at lessening federal oversight over certain private equity activities and derivatives trading. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) — a Tea Party ally — has spearheaded many of the efforts.

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Jeff Spross

Jeff Spross was the economics and business correspondent at TheWeek.com. He was previously a reporter at ThinkProgress.