The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was enacted in response to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, caused by years of lax enforcement of regulations and zero accountability for the nation’s financial institutions.
Dodd-Frank was passed in 2010 in order to protect consumers from the unfair and deceptive practices and products that led to the 2008 crisis; give regulators the tools to ensure that no Wall Street firm grows too large, complex, or risky so as to threaten the global economy; create transparency in previously opaque markets; provide shareholders with more say over the governance of corporations; and to provide financial regulators with new tools to detect and prosecute fraud.
Though the Act has made tremendous progress toward these goals, it has been regularly stymied by a concerted Republican effort to underfund regulators’ operations, pressure them to weaken regulations, and erect roadblocks to implementation. As a result, the progress regulators have made to implement the law remains precarious.
Click on the following links to learn more.
The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-203)
Dodd-Frank Five Years Later: Democratic Staff Report
The Democratic Staff report highlights the important progress regulators have made in implementing Dodd-Frank, as well as the unyielding Republican effort to undercut it.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
One of the cornerstones of the Wall Street Reform Act is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a new federal agency on the front lines of protecting consumers from bad actors in the financial system. Since its inception in 2011, the CFPB has been a remarkable success story, standing up for consumers and service members who have been subject to the deceptive practices of unscrupulous corporations and financial institutions. CFPB’s enforcement actions have resulted in billions of dollars being directly refunded to tens of millions of consumers and service members. It has helped solve tens of thousands of individual consumer problems and continues to go after institutions and industries that, for years, have abused our nation’s consumers without consequence. In addition, the CFPB has finalized several mortgage rules that help guard against the risky and irresponsible lending that brought the economy to its knees just five years ago. For more information, visit http://www.consumerfinance.gov/.
Press Releases
- 12/08/2015 – Waters Commends FSOC’s Actions to Prevent Another Crisis
- 11/18/2015 – Waters: Consumer Protection Should Be Congress’ Top Priority
- 11/18/2015 – Waters Denounces Efforts to Undermine Auto-Lending Protections for Minorities
- 11/04/2015 – Waters Points out Danger of Deregulating Large Banks, Urges Fed to Use Dodd-Frank Tailoring Authority
- 10/22/2015 – Top Committee Democrats Oppose Bid To Gut Wall Street Reform Via Funding Bills
- 09/30/2015 – During Markup, Waters Underscores Urgent Need to Renew Ex-Im
- 09/29/2015 – At Cordray Hearing, Waters Applauds Consumer Protection Efforts, Increasing Access to Credit for Minorities
- 07/21/2015 – Dodd-Frank Five Years Later: More Stability, Transparency and Accountability on Wall Street
- 07/09/2015 – Five Years Later, Waters Reminds GOP why Wall Street Reform was Necessary
- 07/08/2015 – Financial Services Democrats Urge Action on Dodd-Frank Anti-Discrimination Provision
- 06/18/2015 – Leading Democrats Express Concerns with Agency Diversity Standards
- 06/05/2015 – Waters Urges President Obama to Keep U.S. Financial Reforms Out of TPP
- 05/13/2015 – At Dodd-Frank Hearing, Waters Reminds Lawmakers Why Reform Was Necessary
- 05/14/2015 – Waters Statement on CFTC Renewal Measure
- 04/14/2015 – In Floor Remarks, Waters Leads Efforts to Oppose H.R. 685
- 04/14/2015 – Waters Expresses Strong Opposition to Dodd-Frank Rollbacks
- 04/13/2015 – Ranking Member Waters’ Rules Committee Testimony and Statement in Opposition to H.R. 650 and H.R. 685
- 03/10/2015 – Waters Reacts to New Report on Diversity at Consumer Bureau
- 02/04/2015 – In Floor Remarks, Waters Delivers Sharp Rebuke of Anti-Consumer Legislation
- 01/21/2015 – Waters Outlines Democratic Priorities during Oversight Markup
- 01/20/2015 – Waters Lauds President’s SOTU Pledge to Protect Dodd-Frank
- 01/14/2015 – Waters Statement on Wall Street Deregulation Package
- 01/12/2015 – Waters Testifies Against Wall Street Deregulation
- 01/07/2015 – House Democrats Defeat Effort to Deregulate Wall Street
- 12/11/2014 – Waters Takes Fight Against Wall Street Bailout to the House Floor
- 12/10/2014 – Waters Statement on Potential Wall Street Giveaway in Spending Bill
- 12/01/2014 – Waters: Technical Change to Bankruptcy Code is not Go-Ahead to Undo Dodd-Frank
- 10/27/2014 – Top Democrats Call on SEC to Protect Corporate Whistleblowers
- 09/16/2014 – Waters: Holding in Swaps Case a “Major Victory” for Financial Reform
- 09/16/2014 – Waters Applauds CFPB Action Against Corinthian Colleges
- 09/15/2014 – Waters Opposes House Republicans Abuse of Suspension Process
- 07/29/2014 – Heading into August, Waters Blasts Committee’s Unfinished Business
- 07/23/2014 – Waters Praises importance of Dodd-Frank, Blasts Republican Opposition
- 07/23/2014 – Waters Statement on SEC's Final Rules on Money Market Funds
- 07/21/2014 – Democratic Report on Dodd-Frank Law Documents Progress, Efforts to Undercut It
- 07/19/2014 – Waters Discusses Economic Challenges and Legislative Threats with Chair Yellen
- 07/14/2014 - Waters Pushes to Increase Consumer and Investor Protections
- 07/11/2014 – Waters Calls on Hensarling to Protect Investors, Fund SEC Exams
- 07/10/2014 – Waters: GOP Proposal Will “Cripple” Federal Reserve’s Effectiveness
- 07/09/2014 – Waters Calls out GOP’s Spending Bill Scheme
- 06/24/2014 – Waters: CFTC Bill Hamstrings Wall Street’s Cops
- 06/24/2014 – Waters Touts Importance of Wall Street Watchdog
- 06/19/2014 – Waters Strongly Opposes Radical Changes to TRIA, FSOC
- 06/18/2014 – Waters Highlights CFPB’s Success, GOP Efforts to Dismantle It
- 06/13/2014 – Waters calls for Increased Scrutiny of Overseas Derivatives Trading
- 06/12/2014 – 58 Democrats Call on SEC to Quickly Move Toward Extractive Industry Transparency
- 06/10/2014 – Waters Blasts Republicans for Time Wasted, Issues Ignored
- 05/21/2014 – Waters Statement at CFPB Hearing
- 05/20/2014 – Waters Discusses FSOC’s Designation Process
- 04/29/2014 – Waters Praises SEC’s Progress, Underscores Need for Sufficient Funding
- 01/15/2014 – Waters Touts Importance of Volcker Rule
- 06/26/2013 – Waters Encourages Committee Members to “Read the Law”
- 04/25/2013 – Waters Praises FSOC, Calls for Review of Bills Amending Derivatives Provisions in Dodd-Frank
- 02/27/2014 – House Republicans Pass Legislation Gutting Consumer Protection
- 01/23/2013 – Waters Praises First Markup but Corrects Inaccurate Statement about Dodd-Frank Law
Articles and Editorials
- This Christmas, just say ‘No’ to Wall Street gifts, By Maxine Waters... In my role as the ranking Democratic member on the House Financial Services Committee, I think it’s important to remind and embolden Democrats to stand firm against the upcoming Republican strategy to repeal and roll-back Wall Street reform. After all, they’ve done it before.. ... Read full story at TheHill.com
- Regulatory Rollback Is Wrong for Financial Markets, By Antonio Weiss ... For months everyone in financial markets has been talking about liquidity. Some say regulation has killed it, and the answer is to roll back financial reform. The reality is not so simple, and that prescription is dangerous. ... Read full story at WSJ.com
- Wall Street Vampires, By Paul Krugman ... And the Republicans who came to power this year are returning the favor by trying to kill Dodd-Frank, the financial reform enacted in 2010. And why must Dodd-Frank die? Because it’s working. ... Read full story at NYTimes.com
- U.S. House, Senate Democrats push for alternative financial bill, By Sarah Lynch ... Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives teamed up with their counterparts in the Senate on Wednesday to promote a banking regulatory relief bill they say is better than a broader version pushed by Republicans ... Read full story at Reuters
- Paying Off For Consumers, By Rebecca Thiess ... The big banks and financial companies opposed the bureau as a concept, and they don’t much care for the reality, either. From the start, the bureau has been the target of ferocious attacks from industry lobbyists and their too many friends on Capitol Hill, who have concocted a series of bogus controversies in an effort to depict the agency as out of control ... Read full story at USNews.com
- On Its Fourth Anniversary, Has Dodd-Frank Begun To Bite?, By Eileen Appelbaum … Chastened by the crisis and the backlash by Americans of every political persuasion against Wall Street, Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in 2010. The law provides stronger regulation of finance and, for the first time, regulates private equity firms … Read full story at TheHill.com
- How To Prevent Another Financial Crisis, By Maxine Waters ... In 2008 we saw the consequences of the risky, irresponsible lending and financial practices resulting from the false ideology that financial markets can somehow properly police themselves. Lax mortgage standards and an unhealthy amount of risk taken by financial institutions and other market participants led to an economy that was not rooted in reality ... Read full story at AmericanBanker.com
- Treasury Secretary Rebuffs Finance Reform Critics In Congress, By Richard McGregor … In his speech, Mr Lew mounted a dual defence of Dodd-Frank, saying it had “created the strongest safeguards for consumers and investors since the Great Depression.” … Read full story at FT.com
- Americans Agree On Regulating Wall Street, By Jim Lardne ... On the fifth anniversary of the financial meltdown, the Center for Responsible Lending and Americans for Financial Reform (where I work) jointly released the results of a nationwide telephone survey of likely voters conducted earlier this summer by Lake Research Partners. Regulating financial services and products is seen as either "important" or "very important" by more than 90 percent of voters, the survey found... Read full story at USNews.com
Additional Resources
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