On May 29 Breitbart News reported Representative Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO) offered an amendment to the Commerce, Justice, Science spending bill to be sure no funds in it were appropriated to Operation Choke Point, a DOJ operation used to pressure banks into cutting ties with “high-risk” businesses like firearm and ammunition manufacturers and retailers.
Luetkemeyer’s amendment passed, but he told Breitbart News there needed to be legislation which would provide a more substantial stop.
On June 26 Luetkemeyer put forward legislation that will provide that by “[protecting] private industry from the organized bureaucratic intimidation and regulation underway in the Obama administration.”
According to Luetkemeyer’s official website, the bill creates “safe harbors” for financial institutions, “including banks and credit unions, to promote nondiscriminatory access to financial products and services provided the merchant is licensed, registered as a money services business, or [has] obtained a reasoned legal opinion demonstrating the legality of the merchant’s business.”
Luetkemeyer believes this legislation will finally free up banks and other financial institutions “to return to the business of offering products and services to a variety of industries” that have been targeted via Operation Choke Point. These include firearm sales, “ammunition sales, fireworks sales, and pharmaceutical sales.”
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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