GOP senators call for investigations into Dodd-Frank rulemaking

Republicans on Capitol Hill have expressed their concern about Dodd-Frank in a variety of ways in recent months. 

In February, GOP senators on the Banking Committee wrote a letter to the leaders of various regulatory agencies, including Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, saying they feared that quality was being sacrificed for speed in Dodd-Frank’s implementation.

{mosads}House Republicans have conveyed similar thoughts, and have also signaled their intent to chip away at the regulatory overhaul.

For his part, Neal Wolin, the deputy Treasury secretary, said in a speech last month that the Obama administration would stand up to any attempts to “slow down, weaken or repeal” Dodd-Frank’s reforms.

Much of the reform bill is due to be implemented by its first anniversary, in July, but some deadlines have already been missed. The Federal Reserve, for instance, did not meet an April target for finishing rules on debit card fees. 

The recent letter from the Senate Banking Republicans, dated May 4, asks the inspectors general to weigh in on how their agency can improve the “rigor and consistency” of its economic analysis. It was sent to the IGs at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Federal Reserve, the Treasury Department, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

The GOP senators also cited an April analysis from the CFTC’s inspector general that was requested by Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee. That report concluded that the regulator’s legal team held more sway in the crafting of various Dodd-Frank rules than did its economists, and said the CFTC could make a more “robust” use of cost-benefit analyses.

“We are concerned that these rulemaking issues documented by the CFTC Inspector General’s report are not unique to the CFTC and are impeding the agencies’ ability to understand the economic effects of their proposed rules,” the lawmakers’ note said. 

A Democratic spokesman for the Senate Banking Committee didn’t immediately offer a response to the GOP letter, while a spokesman for the CFTC declined to comment. Gary Gensler, the CFTC chairman, told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee last week that his agency “welcomed” the April inspector general report and “seriously considered” its recommendations.