Operation Choke Point Could Be Ending, Second Amendment Activists Rejoice
Operation Choke Point is causing a partisan split in Congress and raising bottom line concerns for a plethora of small businesses across the country. Republican Idaho Senator Mike Crapo has proposed a budget amendment aimed at cutting off funding for the controversial program.
The Senate Budge Committee adopted Crapo’s proposal late last week. Operation Choke Point is program initiated by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation – FDIC. Those opposed to the operation feel that the federal agencies have intimidated banks from engaging in lending and other necessary financial services with specific American businesses. Gun stores and gun manufacturers are reportedly at the top of the list businesses that Operation Choke Point is focusing upon. The Obama administration enacted Operation Choke Point in 2013 with a stated goal of stamping out fraud.
Senator Crapo’s amendment was approved just days before FDIC representatives were scheduled to appear at a March 24 House Financial Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing about the controversial program which allegedly targets the firearms industry and other specific businesses which commonly operation in nearly every town across the country. Wisconsin Republican Sean Duffy will head the Operation Choke Point hearing.
Other industries reportedly impacted by Operation Choke Point include fireworks sales, tobacco sales, coin dealers, debt collectors, pawnbrokers, and pharmaceutical sales. The type of legal businesses and industries targeted by the DOJ and FDIC operation have led opponents to deem those in charge of the program, the “morality police.”
“The Department of Justice must not politicize its enforcement policies, and we must not let Operation Choke Point become an end run around the Second Amendment by threatening the financial security of gun and ammunition manufacturers,” Representative Mike Crapo said in a report in The Daily Signal.
Senator Mike Crapo also had something to say about Operation Choke Point.
“The Department of Justice must not politicize its enforcement policies, and we must not let Operation Choke Point become an end run around the Second Amendment by threatening the financial security of gun and ammunition manufacturers. In Idaho, we have heard from several business owners involved in the guns and ammunition business who experienced difficulty finding essential banking services as a result of this fear and uncertainty on the part of the banks.”
Republican Missouri Representative Blaine Luetkemeyer also recently proposed Operation Choke Point legislation. Luetkemeyer requested investigations into the DOJ and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation program. The Missouri lawmaker will be addressing his Operation Choke Point concerns during the ACA International Washington Insights Conference, April 14-16, in Washington, D.C.
What do you think about Operation Choke Point?
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