Congressional Leadership and White House Comment on Dodd-Frank Conference

This story appeared in Bank Digest.

Following completion of the House-Senate Conference Committee work on the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Speaker of the House of Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., stated that, “Congress has responded to the worst financial crisis in 70 years by moving one step closer to sending to the President for his signature the toughest regulation of Wall Street in generations—restoring common sense after a decade of recklessness.” She added, “This law will send a clear warning: no longer will we allow recklessness on Wall Street to cause joblessness on Main Street. I commend conference Chairman Barney Frank for his leadership and masterful shepherding of the conference. And I thank House Chairman Collin Peterson and all the Democratic conferees for their commitment to a strong bill and their dedication to America’s consumers.”

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., noted that “Everyone recognizes the need to rein in Wall Street to prevent another crisis” but “it’s not encouraging that a bill that was supposed to address the problems of Wall Street and protect consumers is supported by the biggest banks, opposed by small business owners and still fails to address the government sponsored enterprises that were the root cause of the problem.” He added, “when the chief sponsor of the Wall Street bill says that “no one will know” if their bill works until it’s already implemented, it doesn’t inspire confidence.”

In his weekly address, President Barack Obama urged Congress to “take us over the finish line, and send me a reform bill I can sign into law, so we can empower our people with consumer protections, and help prevent a financial crisis like this from ever happening again.”