This sums it up
September 29, 2009 | federal legislation, industry, regulation | Comments (0)Today’s Washington Post has a take on Barney Frank’s changes to the CFPA:
But in a clear indication of trouble ahead, Frank signaled his intention last week to scale back the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency, one of the pillars of the administration’s reform proposals. This new version of the CFPA would exempt many businesses that are not ordinarily thought of as financial institutions but that may offer some type of financial service to customers, such as telecommunications and other utility companies, law offices and real estate brokerages. In addition, it would not be able to require financial institutions to offer “plain vanilla” versions of certain products, such as a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage.
Frank may have made these changes because he thinks they would improve the CFPA or because he thinks they improve its chances of passage. In any case, it is another reminder that in Washington — under this administration, at least — legislation is shaped not by the White House but by Congress. But does it have to be this way? Just because legislation has to be passed by Congress doesn’t mean that the White House can’t play a major role in writing that legislation; just see the last administration.
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