Dodd-Frank Continues to Weigh Down Economy

Since the Dodd-Frank Act was signed into law over a year ago, American companies have become increasingly tied up in the regulatory spider web created by the more than 2,300 pages of regulations created under the new law.  Of course, with that many new regulations in just one year, it’s no wonder that businesses are still struggling to adjust. In total, the law mandates over 400 rulemakings and 65 studies, and the projected budgetary impact of Dodd-Frank for fiscal year 2012 alone is a whopping$1.25 billion in taxpayer dollars. That translates to more than 10.2 million man hours per year spent complying with Dodd-Frank.  These types of financial burdens are exactly why so many job-creating companies and industries have decided that doing business in America is no longer a viable option for them.

In one of the most glaring examples of how over-the-top Dodd-Frank is, more than 100 provisions of Title VII of Dodd-Frank went into effect on July 16th of this year, despite the fact that final rules for these provisions have yet to be issued.  This means that there were so many new regulations in this law that the agencies responsible for enacting them couldn’t keep up – so now we have regulations in effect without rules to govern them.  Without clear implementation of rules, businesses are left vulnerable to potential legal disputes and are stuck in regulatory limbo, creating uncertainty in the markets.

In response to Dodd-Frank, financial institutions have received an unprecedented number of comments from Americans who are outraged by these burdensome measures. For example, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has received over 25,000 comments on proposed rulemaking. The CFTC is only one of many federal agencies affected by Dodd-Frank that has received an overwhelming amount of negative feedback.

In addition to creating uncertainty in the markets and increasing the cost of business for American companies, Dodd-Frank also codified the idea of too big to fail and continued the bailout mentality Congressional Democrats and the White House have proliferated over the last several years.  Since regaining control last November, House Republicans have taken action to repeal Dodd-Frank and pass major sections of the House Republican Plan for America’s Job Creators. However, our efforts to release American companies from these new regulations strangling their growth have been continuously thwarted by Senate Democrats and the president. I have voted to repeal Dodd-Frank in the past and will continue to do so. We need to focus on authentic job growth, created not through bureaucratic red tape but through a more stable economy and a repeal of costly regulations. America must remain a country that encourages entrepreneurship, competition, and innovation.

A one-year report card on Dodd-Frank generated by the House Financial Services Committee helps further explain why and how we got saddled with so many regulatory burdens.

Thank you,

Lynn Westmoreland

United States Congress