Crapo Amendment to End DOJâ??s â??Operation Choke Pointâ?? Clears Committee

Washington, D.C. -Idaho Senator Mike Crapo's amendment to the Senate budget proposal to establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund to end the controversial U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) program known as Operation Choke Point was approved on a 13-9 vote at the Senate Budget Committee markup of the Senate's Fiscal Year 2016 budget blueprint.  Crapo, a strong critic of the program, argued that the DOJ must not politicize its enforcement policies by allowing Operation Choke Point to become an end run around the Second Amendment.   

"Rather than targeting bad actors for illegal activity, this effort, known as Operation Choke Point, is causing banks to deny or terminate credit lines due to fear of DOJ subpoenas or unjustified regulatory action by federal banking regulatord," said Crapo during the mark up.  "In Idaho, we have heard from several Idaho 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."

Joined by his colleagues on the Senate Banking Committee, Crapo previously sought answers from Attorney General Eric Holder on the DOJ-led initiative.  Read the letter here.

MEDIA NOTE: To view the Senator's remarks on YouTube, click here .  To download the original video file via ftp link, click here .