Congress Passes Dodd-Frank Reform

Do you remember when President Trump vowed to “Make America Great Again” at his rallies?

Did you ever think that would mean failing to build his promised border wall and allowing a caravan of illegal aliens to march from Central America into the United States, but delivering on corporate tax cuts, a massive increase in military spending, pulling out of the Iran deal and Dodd-Frank reform?

“WASHINGTON — A decade after the global financial crisis tipped the United States into a recession, Congress agreed on Tuesday to free thousands of small and medium-sized banks from strict rules that had been enacted as part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank law to prevent another meltdown.

In a rare demonstration of bipartisanship, the House voted 258-159 to approve a regulatory rollback that passed the Senate this year, handing a significant victory to President Trump, who has promised to “do a big number on Dodd-Frank.”

The bill stops far short of unwinding the toughened regulatory regime put in place to prevent the nation’s biggest banks from engaging in risky behavior, but it represents a substantial watering down of Obama-era rules governing a large swath of the banking system. The legislation will leave fewer than 10 big banks in the United States subject to stricter federal oversight, freeing thousands of banks with less than $250 billion in assets from a post-crisis crackdown that they have long complained is too onerous. …”

I know that I said I was tired of belaboring the point, but still by what stretch of the imagination has this been the “nationalist-populist revolution” we were sold on during the 2016 campaign? The Trump presidency has been nothing but policy victories for mainstream conservatism while the agenda he ran on that we all found interesting and refreshing disappeared over a year ago.