This week, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a Republican bill to repeal major parts of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law. The bill now goes to the Senate. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says it supports this bill, even though the Chamber has opposed other major pieces of legislation that came out of Dodd-Frank, like the Volcker rule and derivatives regulations. The Chamber’s reason for supporting this bill, however, is a good one: It’s a more efficient, less costly way of accomplishing the same things that Dodd-Frank already did. ADVERTISEMENT In truth, though, the Senate should reject this legislation for a few reasons. First, passing a bill with only Republican support is a bad way to govern. That is, it should not happen in the U.S. Senate. But beyond that, it is the wrong way to change financial regulations. There are plenty of things in Dodd-Frank that need to be fixed; this is not one of them. Second, the repeal bill will hurt American consumers by reducing protections against corporate misconduct. Most of the legislation’s provisions repeal existing regulations. But several of the provisions don’t; instead, they are added to another bill. As it happens, this bill includes a provision that says federal financial regulators must evaluate an international trade commission’s recommendations on financial market regulation — so that these regulations will also reduce risks to U.S. consumers and markets. Most of the proposals in the international trade commission report would be terrible ideas for U.S. financial markets. One of its worst proposals would require banks to have more capital in reserve. Why? So that banks won’t need another bailout — even though that might kill off banks’ willingness to do business with small and medium-sized businesses, which account for the bulk of the U.S. economy. So instead of fixing some of the real problems in financial regulations, this bill seeks to improve things for banks by making sure they can’t get their hands on more money, while at the same time making sure they don’t need another bailout. Finally, here are some of the other harmful provisions included in the GOP bill: The government will now allow a “credit-ratings-like product that ranks securitized assets and assigns different levels of risk to each tranche” — so that banks can sell junk rated securities in the open market. Financial regulators must not define an “unreasonable product and risk combination” or make some products subject to additional regulation unless these products and risks pose a systemic risk. Regulators must not require capital for certain insurance contracts. These provisions go back to a core principle for all regulators: If something is dangerous and needs to be fixed, regulate it or ban it. And Dodd-Frank didn’t ban certain types of insurance. The GOP is seeking to remove many of these protections, so that these risky financial products will be sold freely in the U.S. market. This bill is the opposite of better regulations. If the Senate takes up the bill in any form, it should reject it. Brenton Clibborn is a Senior Fellow at Civic Enterprises, a government watchdog group. He was formerly an associate director at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and a regulator at the Office of Thrift Supervision. The views expressed here are his own.