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Fifth Anniversary of Dodd-Frank

Floor Speech

By: Tom Emmer
By: Tom Emmer
Date: July 22, 2015
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Finance and Banking

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Mr. EMMER of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, 5 years ago the President signed the Dodd-Frank legislation into law. The American people were told that Dodd-Frank would end Washington bailouts, protect consumers, and in the event of another perilous economic situation, it would mitigate the impact and stabilize the financial industry and our economy.

As American families and businesses have now learned, Dodd-Frank does just the opposite. Dodd-Frank has actually codified the too big to fail mentality in Washington, harmed consumers, and will fail to sound the alarm before the next economic crisis.

I have talked with many people in the financial services industry about Dodd-Frank, and the theme I hear over and over again is that the regulatory burdens created by this law are harming their ability to offer affordable services to their clients, my constituents.

Since Dodd-Frank, approximately 1,500 community banks across the country have closed, and a recent study shows that Dodd-Frank has added 61 million hours of paperwork and more than $24 billion in final rule costs to the financial industry. These costs are not borne by Wall Street executives but, rather, by working mothers, small-business owners, and retirees.

This body is not powerless. In fact, I am here with many of my colleagues tonight standing up for working families impacted by this flawed law. We should subject this Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Financial Stability Oversight Council to congressional appropriations. We should establish a bipartisan commission to lead the CFPB and reduce regulation that is crippling our community banks and credit unions. By enacting commonsense reforms, businesses can grow, jobs will be created, and American workers can better provide for their families.

I also want to thank the 146 banks, 8 credit unions, and nearly 60,000 constituents in my district who provide vital financial services to Minnesotans despite the ever-growing regulatory burden from Washington.

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