Politico reports:
A one-sentence bill worth $300 million to a bank owned by a politically connected family that has doled out hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations is about to get a big push forward.
Set to be approved by the House Financial Services Committee on Thursday, the legislation would help Emigrant Savings Bank of New York sidestep a costly mandate of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. No other bank in the country would be affected.
The bill was introduced by Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.), but it’s backed by members of both parties on the financial services panel. Emigrant Bank is owned by billionaire Howard Milstein, a bundler for President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign and a major Empire State political player.
Milstein bundled between $100,000 and $200,000 in campaign donations for Obama in 2008, and has personally given more than $34,000 to political candidates and committees in 2012, a majority of which has gone to Democrats.
The Obama administration has not voiced any objection to the bill.