The Wall Street Journal
President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed into law the most sweeping overhaul of U.S. financial-market regulations since the Great Depression, marking the conclusion of an effort to craft a legislative response to the 2008 financial crisis.
Mr. Obama pitched the measure as a major step toward correcting the problems that contributed to that crisis and the recession that followed.
"For years, our financial sector was governed by antiquated and poorly enforced rules that allowed some to game the system and take risks that endangered the entire economy," Mr. Obama said.
The new law, he said, would better protect consumers, empower investors and bring transparency to dark corners of the financial markets.
The wide-ranging law will touch every corner of the financial universe, curtailing certain risky activities of the nation's largest financial firms, affecting how average Americans obtain credit cards and mortgages, and transforming the way regulators work to assess and respond to potential flash points in the economy.
But like most of the Obama administration's legislative victories, the financial overhaul legislation succeeded with only narrow Republican support. Mr. Obama specifically thanked the three Senate Republicans—Scott Brown of Massachusetts and Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine—for their support.
Many in the financial industry, who lobbied against the bill on Capitol Hill, continued to criticize the legislation even as the president prepared to sign it.
"This is nothing more than a financial-regulatory boondoggle," said Thomas J. Donohue, president and chief executive of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which spent millions on a campaign to kill a new consumer watchdog.
The 400-person audience for the bill signing was dominated by Democratic lawmakers and consumer advocates. Only a few recognizable industry faces could be seen in the crowd, including Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Vikram Pandit and Cam Fine, the chief executive of the Independent Community Bankers of America.
Harvard Law School Professor Elizabeth Warren, a candidate to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau created by the bill, had a front-row seat for the ceremony. A number of lawmakers, including Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D., Ill.) and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D., N.Y.) had their pictures snapped with her using their cellphone cameras before Mr. Obama arrived.
Mr. Obama pitched the measure as a major step toward correcting the problems that contributed to that crisis and the recession that followed.
"For years, our financial sector was governed by antiquated and poorly enforced rules that allowed some to game the system and take risks that endangered the entire economy," Mr. Obama said.
The new law, he said, would better protect consumers, empower investors and bring transparency to dark corners of the financial markets.
The wide-ranging law will touch every corner of the financial universe, curtailing certain risky activities of the nation's largest financial firms, affecting how average Americans obtain credit cards and mortgages, and transforming the way regulators work to assess and respond to potential flash points in the economy.
But like most of the Obama administration's legislative victories, the financial overhaul legislation succeeded with only narrow Republican support. Mr. Obama specifically thanked the three Senate Republicans—Scott Brown of Massachusetts and Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine—for their support.
Many in the financial industry, who lobbied against the bill on Capitol Hill, continued to criticize the legislation even as the president prepared to sign it.
"This is nothing more than a financial-regulatory boondoggle," said Thomas J. Donohue, president and chief executive of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which spent millions on a campaign to kill a new consumer watchdog.
The 400-person audience for the bill signing was dominated by Democratic lawmakers and consumer advocates. Only a few recognizable industry faces could be seen in the crowd, including Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Vikram Pandit and Cam Fine, the chief executive of the Independent Community Bankers of America.
Harvard Law School Professor Elizabeth Warren, a candidate to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau created by the bill, had a front-row seat for the ceremony. A number of lawmakers, including Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D., Ill.) and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D., N.Y.) had their pictures snapped with her using their cellphone cameras before Mr. Obama arrived.
No comments:
Post a Comment