[StBernard] Frank statement on Congresswoman Bachmann's effort to repeal the Dodd-Frank Act

[Westley Annis]

Frank statement on Congresswoman Bachmann's effort to repeal the Dodd-Frank
Act

 

Washington, D.C. - Congressman Barney Frank, Ranking Member of the House
Financial Services Committee, released the following statement in response
to Congresswoman Michele Bachmann's effort to repeal the Dodd-Frank Wall
Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act:

 

"Michele Bachmann, the Club for Growth, and others in the right-wing
coalition have now made their agenda for the financial sector very clear:
they yearn to return to the thrilling days of yesteryear, so the loan
arrangers can ride again - untrammeled by any rules restraining
irresponsibility, excess, deception, and most of all, infinite leverage. 

 

"Their effort to repeal the new financial reform law reveals the hypocrisy
of right-wing claims that they are concerned with ending uncertainty in the
economy. Now that we have put in place a set of rules that allow financial
markets to function but which also curb their excesses, Representative
Bachmann and her allies want to reintroduce uncertainty by going back to
exactly the situation that led to the financial crisis in the first place.

 

"It is worth noting that what appears to be their most serious objection -
at least as stated here, since abolishing the independent Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau remains one of their highest priorities - is that the law
grants authority to the Treasury to deal with failing institutions. This
provision closely follows a proposal suggested by the Bush administration in
2008, when its top economic officials noted that the absence of such
authority was a major exacerbating factor to the deep recession into which
we plunged. A number of Bush appointees had a role in shaping the final
legislation.  

 

"Finally, I am pleased to see that Representative Bachmann and her very
conservative allies have begun to show concern for federal intrusion on
constitutional rights, even though it is misplaced with regard to the
financial reform law.  However, I do wish that their deep concern for
protecting the rights of financial institutions had spilled over into some
concern when individual liberties are at risk."

 

 

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