House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, will not run for re-election in 2018, the prominent Republican told his supporters on Tuesday.
The news comes courtesy of the Dallas Morning News and its ace political reporter, Gromer Jeffers.
Jeffers reported Tuesday that Hensarling announced his retirement from Congress in an email to supporters.
“Today I am announcing that I will not seek reelection to the US Congress in 2018. Although service in Congress remains the greatest privilege of my life, I never intended to make it a lifetime commitment, and I have already stayed far longer than I had originally planned,” Hensarling said in the email.
Hensarling added that considering his term as the chair of the House Financial Services Committee is coming to an end next year, “the time seems right for my departure.”
Hensarling, in his position as chair of the House Financial Services Committee, has displayed significant influence of the financial services industry in the last few years.
Hensarling is the driving force behind the Financial CHOICE Act, H.R. 10, the Republican-crafted effort to replace the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act.
Hensarling made the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and its director, Richard Cordray, frequent targets.
Earlier this year, Hensarling told Cordray to his face that he deserved to be fired.
“Mr. Cordray, I know that you are here at our committee’s invitation for a statutory appearance, but I’m otherwise surprised to see you here in that, as you well know, there have been many press reports saying that you would have otherwise returned to Ohio to pursue a gubernatorial bid,” Hensarling said during a Congressional hearing in April.
“On the other hand, I am also surprised that you are here because, as you are well aware, the President under the PHH case can dismiss you at will. Under Dodd-Frank, you can be removed for cause,” Hensarling said. “Either way, I believe the President is clearly justified in dismissing you and I call upon the President – yet again – to do just that, and to do it immediately.”
In February, Hensarling stood in the Oval Office as President Donald Trump signed an executive order to begin the rollback of Dodd-Frank.
“I’m very pleased that President Trump signed this executive action, which closely mirrors provisions that are found in the Financial CHOICE Act to end Wall Street bailouts, end ‘too big to fail,’ and end top-down regulations that make it harder for our economy to grow and for hardworking Americans to achieve financial independence,” Hensarling said at the time.
But now, Hensarling is on his way out of Congress, but he said Tuesday that he won’t stop working to further his agenda for the remainder of his term – including housing finance reform.
“Although I will not be running for reelection, there are 14 months left in my congressional term to continue to fight for individual liberty, free enterprise, and limited constitutional government – the causes for which I remain passionate,” Hensarling wrote Tuesday.
“Much work remains at the House Financial Services Committee in the areas of housing finance reform, regulatory relief, cyber security and capital formation to name just a few,” Hensarling continued. “Furthermore, important work remains in the Congress as a whole – especially pro-growth tax reform. I look forward to continuing this work on behalf of the people of the 5th District of Texas and all Americans.”
