President Donald Trump signed a bill on Thursday that would unravel the “Dodd-Frank disaster,” eliminating onerous regulations on community banks.
President Trump said at the bill signing on Thursday, “The legislation I’m signing today rolls back the crippling Dodd-Frank regulations that are crushing small banks.”
The legislation reduces regulation and oversight on financial institutions below $250 billion in assets and also exempts community banks from increased oversight established by the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform bill.
The 2010 Dodd-Frank bill was a hallmark of former President Barack Obama’s legacy, which was passed in the wake of the financial crisis.
“They shouldn’t be regulated the same way as big complex financial institutions. This is all about the Dodd-Frank disaster,” Trump added.
President and CEO of the Independent Community Bankers of America said that the Dodd-Frank rollback bill “unravels many of the suffocating regulatory burdens our nation’s community banks face and puts community banks in a much better position to unleash their full economic potential.”
The House passed S. 2155, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act 258-159, featuring mostly Republican votes for the legislation. The Senate passed the bill 67-31, featuring a surprising level of bipartisan support for the bill.
The Senate Dodd-Frank rollback was less ambitious compared to the House-passed Financial CHOICE Act, sponsored by House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX). Hensarling suggested in April that he could support the Senate-passed bill as long as there were “other pathways” to advance more financial reforms not included in the Senate bill.
House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) cheered the bill’s passage through Congress in a statement on Tuesday, saying:
For far too long, far too many people in our country have struggled to make ends meet. They’ve struggled to buy a car; they’ve struggled to buy a home; they’ve struggled for their version of the American Dream. Why is this happening? Because Main Street banks and credit unions that Americans depend on have been stifled by the weight, load, volume, complexity and cost of heavy Washington bureaucratic red tape which has prevented them from serving their communities. But today, that changes.
Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) said on the House floor on Tuesday that the Dodd-Frank bill is the most “pro-growth” banking bill in years.
Trump continued, “Dodd-Frank was something they said could not be touched. And honestly, a lot of great Democrats knew that it had to be done and they joined us in the effort.”
“And there is something so nice about bipartisan, and we’re going to have to try more of it. Let’s do more of it,” President Trump added.