LaTourette opposes Dodd-Frank financial reform bill
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
U.S. Rep. Steven C. LaTourette (R-OH0
today blasted the proposed Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, saying
it makes the Wall Street bailout permanent, fails to address the
failures of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, does little to avert
another financial meltdown, rewards banks that are too big to fail
and punishes responsible community banks and credit unions.
LaTourette said federal regulators
were too chummy with Wall Street and big banks and asleep at the
wheel when the housing bubble burst and caused the biggest
financial meltdown since the Great Depression. LaTourette
said the financial regulatory bill, known as Dodd-Frank for its
authors, does not come close to true reform.
"This bill is supposed to scare the
living daylights out of Wall Street and the big banks, but Lloyd
Blankfein, the head of Goldman says 'the biggest beneficiary of
reform is Wall Street itself,'" LaTourette said.
LaTourette said the bill makes the
Wall Street bailout permanent and is loaded with new regulations
and expanded bureaucracy rather than addressing regulators' lax
oversight and failures. The cost of all the new regulations
will fall to consumers, in higher fees, and less lending even to
those who are credit-worthy, he said.
"Regulators ignored warning signs and
treated those they were supposed to police with deference and
backroom secret-handshakes," LaTourette said. "It takes a very
cozy, clubby world to miss Bernie Madoff and the collapse of the
housing market and our economy. We wouldn't let BP dictate
new drilling regulations, yet the fingerprints of those who caused
our economic ruin are all over this bill."
LaTourette said the bill leaves us
vulnerable to more financial chaos, like banks and firms too big to
fail. He said the bill is mute on the failed Freddie Mac and
Fannie Mae, which had a massive role in the housing collapse, yet
handcuffs those with great track records for responsible lending -
community banks and credit unions.
"Only in Washington would community banks and credit unions face a
sledgehammer while Wall Street firms and big banks get swatted with
a feather duster, he said.
LaTourette said Allan Sloan, Senior Editor-at-Large at Fortune,
wrote that that Dodd-Frank bill should be renamed the "Toe-Nibbling
Act of 2010."
"The reason is that, with a rare exception or two, this 2,000-page
bill nibbles at the toes of the problems that brought us the
worldwide financial meltdown. It doesn't go for the throat --
its sponsors just pretend that it does," wrote Sloan.