Comparing Operation Choke Point to Tom Cruise’s “Minority Report,” a film where police use “psychic technology” to arrest alleged murderers before they actually commit a crime, Sen. Mike Crapo today made another attempt to end the Justice Department’s controversial program.
“To explain [Operation Choke Point], I want to remind everybody of a movie that came out in 2002. It’s called ‘Minority Report,’” Crapo, R-Idaho, said during a Senate Banking Committee hearing this morning.
“[T]he Department of Justice has engaged in a program where it has actually designated not companies, not individuals, but business types or industries that are entirely legal in the United States as ‘high risk’ industries that should be stopped from participating in our economy.”
“In fact, [the program targets] entire industries in the United States not because they have committed any fraud … not because they are going to commit any fraud, but because … they are determined to be likely to be fraudulent in the future,” Crapo added.
Most Americans, Crapo said, would be “shocked” to discover the government is employing these tactics to prevent entire industries “from participating in our economy.”
In order to end to the program, which Crapo said is blocking gun sellers in Idaho access to credit and other financial services, he attached an amendment to a regulatory relief bill proposed by Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala.
The measure would prohibit government agencies from engaging in Operation Choke Point.
Members of the Senate Banking Committee voted in favor of the amendment today 13-9, with Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly from Indiana joining Republicans in voting ‘yes.’
Crapo’s amendment—only a sentence long—reads:
“The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, or the National Credit Union Administration may not implement or participate in the Operation Choke Point initiative of the Department of Justice.”
During the committee hearing today, some lawmakers defended Operation Choke Point.
“I hate to oppose a Tom Cruise amendment,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, drawing laughs from both political parties. “But I have to.”
“Fraud in the financial system is a serious problem and it’s become worse with the increase of online financial services,” Brown said. “Banking regulators need the flexibility to continue strong oversight over the relationship that financial intuitions have and require financial institutions to remain vigilant against fraud. That’s the reason for Operation Choke Point.”
Sen. David Vitter, R-La., another member of the Senate Banking Committee, attempted to quell those concerns.
“Fraud is illegal, it’s going to be illegal,” he said. “Regulators have all sorts of tools to go after fraud. Crapo’s amendment doesn’t take a single one of those away.”
Vitter, who said he’s talked “personally” with financial institutions “who have gotten this message” and business owners who have also been adversely affected by Operation Choke Point, said the program is “tyrannical.”
“Even if those lists of businesses are ones you personally disfavor, everybody should be concerned about this phenomenon,” he said.
Members in both chambers of Congress have made multiple attempts to end Operation Choke Point, but thus far, none of those efforts have proven successful.
Crapo, who earlier this year attempted to use the budget process to end Operation Choke Point, is hopeful that this time, his measure will work.
“I will continue to work with my colleagues to end this program and ensure it doesn’t become an end run around the Second Amendment,” Crapo said in a statement to The Daily Signal.
