Bachmann vs. Dodd Frank

One day into her third term in the House of Representatives serving the state of Minnesota, Michele Bachmann introduced her first bill for the 112th Congress--a repeal of the Dodd Frank bill in its entirety. Unlike the voluminous bills we have grown used to seeing over the past two years, Bachmann's bill is short and to the point.  Section 1 entitled "Repeal" states simply, "The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Public Law 111-203)  is repealed and the provisions of law amended by such Act are revived and restored as if such Act had not been enacted."    Wow--one paragraph in simple English!  I'm impressed!

On January 6, Bachmann released the following statement about HR 87, "I'm pleased to offer a full repeal of the job-killing Dodd-Frank financial regulatory bill.  Dodd-Frank grossly expanded the federal government beyond its jurisdictional boundaries. It gave Washington bureaucrats the power to interpret and enforce the legislation with little oversight.  Dodd Frank also failed to address the taxpayer-funded liabilities of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  Real financial regulatory reform must deal with these lenders who were a leading cause of our economic recession.  True reform must also end the bailout mindset that was perpetuated by the last Congress. I am proud to work towards repeal of Dodd Frank because Congress must protect the taxpayers instead of handing out favors to Wall Street." 

Co-sponsors for Bachmann's bill include California Congressman Darrell Issa, Todd Akin (R-MO) Tom McClintock (R-CA) and Bill Posey (R-FL).

Of course, not everyone is on board with Bachmann's proposed legislation.  Barney Frank, in whose honor the bill is named (along with the retired Chris Dodd) issued his own statement in response to HR 87.  "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 yester-year, so the loan arrangers can ride again--untrammeled by any rules restraining irresponsibility, excess, deception, and most of all infinite leverage."

I really wonder whether Frank has watched the news lately.  Housing remains in a slump and unemployment remains high partially largely because of lack of access to capital.  Whether we are talking about the young couple purchasing their new home, or the small business trying to expand, lack of access to loans is killing recovery.  The "loan arrangers" are the ones who keep capital flowing so that people can buy, spend, invest and hire.  When the lenders become the enemy, where is the money supposed to come from?

For my part, I hope that Bachmann can get her bill passed and that it can make it through the Senate.  Now if we could just get her to work on a bill repealing the Federal Reserve rule on compensation.

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