FILE - In this July 21, 2010 file photo, President Barack Obama, left, stands with Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., second left, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., second right, and Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., after he signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection financial reform bill at the Ronald Reagan at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington. Congress has voted to roll back some key elements of the Dodd-Frank law, which was enacted to provide the kind of regulatory framework that might keep another Great Recession from happening. Supporters of a vote, Tuesday, May 22, 2018 say it will spur the economy by increasing lending, easing the regulatory burden on small and medium-sized banks. Critics argue that it increases the chances of future taxpayer bailouts like the ones that followed the financial crisis. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, file)
FILE - In this July 21, 2010 file photo, President Barack Obama, left, stands with Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., second left, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., second right, and Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., after he signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection financial reform bill at the Ronald Reagan at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington. Congress has voted to roll back some key elements of the Dodd-Frank law, which was enacted to provide the kind of regulatory framework that might keep another Great Recession from happening. Supporters of a vote, Tuesday, May 22, 2018 say it will spur the economy by increasing lending, easing the regulatory burden on small and medium-sized banks. Critics argue that it increases the chances of future taxpayer bailouts like the ones that followed the financial crisis. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, file) Credit: Charles Dharapak

The House on Tuesday passed a plan to roll back banking regulations passed in response to the 2008 financial crisis, sending the bill to President Donald Trump to sign.

The measure leaves the central structure of the post-financial-crisis rules in place, but it would make the most significant changes to weaken the “Dodd-Frank” banking regulations since they were passed in 2010. It would exempt some small and regional banks from the most stringent regulations, and also would loosen rules aimed at protecting the biggest banks from sudden collapse.

The measure is nearly certain to become law after its passing in the House, 258 to 159, on Tuesday with nearly all House Republicans and 33 Democrats voting for it. The Senate approved the bill in March with bipartisan backing, and White House officials said that Trump plans to sign it in the coming days.

The bill’s supporters say it provides needed relief for community and local banks withering under Washington’s regulations. But critics charge it opens the financial system back up to the abuse and risky behavior that brought the U.S. economy to its knees a decade ago — and does so at a time when financial firms are posting record profits.

The final measure represents a compromise between Trump, congressional conservatives and moderate Senate Democrats. The bill leaves major pieces of post-financial-crisis rules in place, and it does not touch the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a watchdog agency created after the crisis.

Trump had vowed to “do a big number” on the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and some Republicans had hoped to repeal the law entirely — or at least make major changes to rein in the watchdog agency.

The legislation remained in limbo for some weeks after Senate passage, as Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, held out for changes that would, in some cases, pull back regulations even further. But senators warned repeatedly that sending the legislation back to the Senate could end up killing it.

Senators had assembled a rare bipartisan coalition to pass the bill by winning support from 17 Democrats, including a half-dozen who are up for re-election in November in states Trump won. Aside from must-pass spending bills, the banking bill stands as the sole example of bipartisan legislation on a major issue in the Senate since Trump became president.

But the debate split Senate Democrats and at times grew divisive and personal as liberals, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., attacked their colleagues who were supporting the bill. It was an experience Senate Democrats were loathe to repeat, and they joined with Senate Republicans and White House officials in encouraging Hensarling to yield to his demands.

In the end, Hensarling was satisfied by a commitment from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to bring up an additional package of bills that Hensarling’s committee has passed, though analysts give such a package slim chances of passing.

Former congressman Barney Frank, D-Mass., one of the 2010 measure’s authors, said that he opposed the regulatory rollback, but it does not undo the rules he helped pass nearly a decade ago.

“This is not a ‘big number’ on the bill,” Frank said in an interview. “It’s a small number.”

Hensarling has said much the same, telling reporters that while he wished that the legislation would have gutted Dodd-Frank, it falls short of that goal.

Nevertheless, Hensarling touted the bill during floor debate on Tuesday.

“This is the most pro-growth banking bill in a generation,” he said. “Today is an important day in the history of economic opportunity in America.”

Under the bill, banks with more than $50 billion in assets would no longer be automatically subject to the toughest federal regulations, including a yearly stress test to prove they could survive another onslaught of economic turmoil. The bill would raise that threshold to $250 billion in assets, potentially allowing several high-profile financial institutions, including American Express and Ally Financial, to escape the extra regulatory scrutiny.

The legislation would also exempt banks with less than $10 billion in assets from the “Volcker rule,” which bars banks from making certain risky wagers with their own money.