[StBernard] STATEMENT: Frank statement on the cost of Dodd-Frank implementation

Westley Annis Westley at da-parish.com
Wed Mar 30 19:46:37 EDT 2011


Frank statement on the cost of Dodd-Frank implementation


WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of
the House Financial Services Committee is debating the possible costs of
implementing the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
The legislation was crafted as a response to the financial crisis which has
cost nearly 10 million American jobs and over $10 trillion in household
wealth, and has led to average lost wages of more than $3,000 per household.




Congressman Barney Frank, Ranking Member of the Full Committee, released the
following statement in order to provide a context for today's proceedings.

"The press has reported on a yet-to-be-released study by the Government
Accountability Office stating that it will cost up to $2.9 billion over five
years to implement the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act."



"When the details of the report are made public, it will be important to put
the cost analysis in proper perspective - there would be absolutely no cost
to taxpayers if Republicans had not succeeded in stripping the funding
mechanism from the bill during the conference committee."



"I and other Democrats proposed to pay for implementation of the legislation
by placing a levy on financial institutions with assets greater than $50
billion and on hedge funds with assets greater than $10 billion. Many of
these institutions benefited greatly from government intervention during the
crisis and they will benefit in the future from the stability the law will
provide to the markets. American taxpayers, many of whom were significantly
harmed by the financial crisis, would have shouldered none of the burden for
implementing the legislation."



"During the conference committee in June, Senate Republicans threatened to
block the entire bill if the language assessing a fee on these large
financial institutions was not removed. There was a great deal of coverage
of this in the press -- negotiations on the entire bill hinged on this
single point. When the Republicans refused to back down, we were forced to
remove the funding language from the bill, effectively shifting the cost for
implementation from the nation's largest financial institutions to American
taxpayers."



"This was a dramatic story when it occurred last summer and I regret that I
could not change the outcome then. When the GAO report on the costs of
implementing the Wall Street Reform Act is released it will be especially
important to remember that these costs could have been completely avoided."

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