President Obama vowed to lawmakers Tuesday that he would veto any legislation that would roll back the Dodd-Frank financial reform law the GOP-led Congress passed.
In his State of the Union address, the president defended the 2011 law as a set of “sensible regulations” aimed at protecting the U.S. from another financial crisis.
{mosads}And with Republicans now in charge of both chambers of Congress already trying to advance bills tweaking or scrapping parts of that measure, the president made clear he would do everything he could to block those efforts.
Any bills “unraveling the new rules on Wall Street” will “earn my veto,” the president said, according to prepared text released by the White House.
Noting that the stock market has doubled under his watch, the president touted the new rules as critical protections for average Americans from any problems from Wall Street.
“Today, we have new tools to stop taxpayer-funded bailouts, and a new consumer watchdog to protect us from predatory lending and abusive credit card practices,” he said.
Republicans are likely to set their sights on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with legislation to alter its structure or place it under stricter congressional control.
GOP lawmakers succeeded in including a repeal of some provisions in the law in a must-pass funding bill at the end of 2014, despite some vocal opposition from a bloc of Democrats.