Texas Representative Jeb Hensarling announced that he will not seek re-election in 2018. His departure from Congress will coincide with the end of his third term as chairman of the Financial Services Committee.

Hensarling has chaired the Financial Services panel since 2013, leading the House GOP fight against the strict Dodd-Frank Act finance rules passed after the financial crisis.

The committee produced dozens of bills to restrict or eliminate major portions of Dodd-Frank. Many of those laid the foundation for Hensarling’s Financial CHOICE Act, the most ambitious attempt to reshape the Obama-era law.

…

Hensarling said Tuesday the Financial Services committee will continue to work on financial regulations, housing finance, cyber security and capital formation. He also pledged “to continue the fight for individual liberty, free enterprise, and limited constitutional government – the causes for which I remain passionate.”

Hensarling was elected in 2002 and became chair of the Republican Study Committee. He was a staunch conservative and a persistent voice for fiscal sanity…unfortunately, he was treated much more like a Jeremiah than a Jonah.