Conservative group projects huge Dodd-Frank price tag

The remaining compliance costs of Dodd-Frank will total $10.3 billion once they are implemented, according to new research released Monday by the conservative American Action Forum (AAF).

The costs are not just monetary. Complying with the regulations will also eat up 5.1 million hours in total, according to the AAF research, first shared with The Hill and authored by Sam Batkins, AAF’s regulatory policy director.

{mosads}Regulators have yet to propose 95 of the 398 rules that make up Dodd-Frank, which Congress passed in 2010 in response to the 2008 financial crisis. Only 220 of those 398 rules are finalized, according to October research from law firm Davis Polk.

“At some point, we have to ask, ‘Are we getting our money’s worth out of this?’ I don’t think so,” said AAF president Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who was Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) economic adviser during the 2008 presidential campaign.

AAF estimated that $5.2 billion of the remaining implementation costs will come from the unreleased capital and margin requirements for swaps, according to the research.

Holtz-Eakin predicted that if Republicans take control of the Senate and keep the House in the next Congress, they will look to move a Dodd-Frank fix-it piece of legislation.

Democrats have been largely opposed to reopening Dodd-Frank, fearful that it would weaken regulations designed to prevent another economic collapse. Republicans say the regulations have stifled economic growth.