Congressman Barney Frank
Representing Massachusetts' 4th District

President Obama Signs Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform
and Consumer Protection Act
July 21, 2010

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama today signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s financial services industry and a broad expansion of consumer protections.

The law is the result of over a year of concerted effort by Congressman Barney Frank, Senator Chris Dodd, and the Obama administration.  Frank, as Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, helped craft and pass in the Committee eight individual bills which were later assembled into the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. 

After the bill passed the House in December 2009 and passed the Senate in May 2010, Frank was chosen to be Chairman of the House-Senate conference committee which reconciled the differences between the House and Senate bills.  Frank took the rare step of holding an open conference in order to give the public full view of deliberations.  The sessions were televised in full on CSPAN.

The bill signed into law today is designed to protect consumers from the practices which led Wall Street to the brink of meltdown in September 2008, and which has severely hurt the nation’s economy, caused millions of Americans to lose their jobs, and forced millions of families to lose their homes.

The central elements of the legislation are the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency, new rules for restricting predatory lending practices, and new regulations on large financial firms in order to prevent the risky practices which led to the economic crisis.  The law will establish a mechanism for the orderly dissolution of failing financial giants, thereby eliminating the possibility of future taxpayer bailouts of private firms.  It also gives company shareholders a voice in determining CEO compensation packages, proving them an opportunity to limit pay packages which incentivize corporate executives to put their firms at enormous risk.

In his speech at the signing ceremony today, President Obama said that the “reforms represent the strongest consumer financial protections in history.”  Most Americans will experience the effects of the bill most directly in their interactions with lending institutions and credit card companies, which will be prevented from issuing mortgages that borrowers clearly cannot pay, and will limit many hidden fees.

The President also praised Congressman Frank and Senator Dodd for their work. He stated that the supporters of the legislation were forced to “overcome the furious lobbying of an array of powerful interest groups and a partisan minority determined to block change.”  In addition, the President said that “because of this law, the American people will never again be asked to foot the bill for Wall Street’s mistakes.  There will be no more taxpayer-funded bailouts. Period.”

 

 

MORE INFORMATION

Background and general summary of the legislation

Detailed summary of the legislation

The Top 10 Things You May Not Know About the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act

Text of the bill by section

Download the entire bill (PDF)

Selected news coverage of the legislation (March 2009 – Present)

Major press analysis of the causes of the financial crisis

Congressman Frank’s May 2009 speech about the need for Wall Street Reform

Video selections from the House debate over financial reform (December 2009)