Two key GOP members of Missouri’s congressional delegation tell Columbia business leaders on Wednesday that they don’t like the controversial Dodd-Frank bill.

Missouri Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer speaks in Columbia on February 22, 2017

U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer wants to repeal parts of it and fine-tune it. U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Harrisonville) is calling for a repeal.

Then-President Barack Obama (D) signed Dodd-Frank into law in 2010. The bill involved significant changes to financial regulation.

Congressman Luetkemeyer, who chairs the powerful House Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, says while Dodd-Frank was intended to reign in the abuses in the early 2000s, it backfired.

“Some of it actually is working, most of it is not,” says Luetkemeyer. “For instance, 75 percent of the people had free checking before Dodd-Frank went into effect. Now only 37 percent do.”

The St. Elizabeth Republican supports House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling’s (R-Texas) proposed Choice Act, which is aimed at Dodd-Frank.

Luetkemeyer spokeswoman Kristina Weger says the Choice Act is expected to be introduced in the coming weeks.

Luetkemeyer tells a Columbia Chamber of Commerce financial services roundtable that Dodd-Frank has caused “negative consequences” for consumers and for community banks.

“You know we’re losing one community bank a day around the country and a lot of it is due to this Dodd-Frank bill which adds tons and tons of compliance costs to the banks to be able to do business to comply with the laws, many of them which were maybe well-intentioned but they’re sort of nonsensical if you look at them and they’re very expensive to comply with,” Luetkemeyer says.

Luetkemeyer says Dodd-Frank has 12 titles. He tells Missourinet some should be repealed, some should stay intact or be tweaked and some should receive major overhauls.

Click for more of the interview with Rep. Luetkemeyer (3:48)

Congresswoman Hartzler also spoke at Wednesday’s event, telling Columbia business leaders that Dodd-Frank should be repealed.

“We need to get our economy going again and to do that we need our small businesses to thrive, we need Main Street to grow again and to do that, they need to be able to go to their local bank and be able to access capital”, says Hartzler.

Hartzler says the law caused problems for banks and their ability to serve their communities.

Repealing Dodd-Frank is part of an “undo list” booklet that Hartzler presented to President Donald Trump (R) earlier this month. Hartzler says Dodd-Frank has consolidated financial assets in Wall Street at the expense of those on Main Street.

About 100 mid-Missouri bankers and business leaders attended Wednesday’s Columbia Chamber roundtable discussion. Columbia is in Hartzler’s sprawling district.

“It was great to see a lot of the business leaders of this community and the bankers to have a very important discussion about our financial industry in America, where we’re at and how we can help Main Street,” Hartzler says.

Hartzler also says the United States has the highest corporate tax rate in the world.

During Wednesday morning’s presentation, about 70 people demonstrated outside Columbia’s Stoney Creek Inn, calling on Hartzler to have a town hall.

Hartzler tells Missourinet it would not be productive to have a town hall meeting now.

“I care about them, I’m honored to represent them and I want to hear their ideas but I think the best forum to do that is by e-mailing me or sending a letter or calling my office,” says Hartzler. “As we have seen on the national TV, town hall forums just aren’t very productive right now, and so I welcome their input in other ways.”

The demonstrators, which included Mid-Missouri Peaceworks and the Native American Support Group, want Hartzler to hold a town hall meeting where constituents can ask questions.

Hartzler represents 24 counties in central, west-central and southwest Missouri.

Click here for Missourinet interview with Rep. Hartzler (3:12)