House passes ‘capital access’ bill on party-line vote

The House passed a financial services package championed by Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) today that would reduce certain reporting requirements and investor restrictions in federal securities law.

Democrats held the line against the Expanding Access to Capital Act, which passed the chamber on a Republican party-line vote of 212-205. We’d heard rumblings that the bill could get some bipartisan support, but Democrats led by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) derided the package as the “Access to Fraud Act.”