Yet, another opinion
January 7, 2010 | federal legislation, industry | Comments (0)This columnist says Dodd’s retirement announcement boosts financial regulatory reform efforts:
Shortly before Christmas, Dodd and Shelby issued a joint statement saying the talks have been “extremely productive” and that they hoped to come up with a bipartisan bill by the time the Senate reconvenes later this month. The statement said the two senators “share many of the same goals,” including strengthening consumer protections, protecting taxpayers from future bank bailouts, modernizing bank regulation, and refocusing the Federal Reserve’s focus on monetary policy.
The tough part of legislating is crafting language to achieve these goals without causing unintended consequences. Banks and business groups, for example, contend the Consumer Financial Protection Agency would add an unnecessary layer of regulation, reduce choices of financial products for consumers, stifle innovation, and make credit even harder to get. Republicans make the same arguments.
Dodd’s decision not to run for reelection makes it more likely that the senator will be willing to drop it in the final bill, even though some sort of enhanced consumer protections will be included.
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