WASHINGTON, DC— Congressman Jim Himes (CT-04) released the following statement following Donald Trump’s issuance of an Executive Order weakening financial regulations:
“On Friday morning, in a meeting with business leaders, President Trump said, ‘We expect to be cutting a lot out of Dodd-Frank. Because frankly, I have so many people, friends of mine, that had nice businesses, they just can’t borrow money … because the banks just won’t let them borrow because of the rules and regulations in Dodd-Frank.’
“After hearing the President so committed to cutting Dodd-Frank because it hurt his friends’ interests, I expected the language in his Executive Order to be a scathing critique of the status quo. As an author of Dodd-Frank, I prepared myself for the worst. Instead, the Order was a restatement of principles that are already encompassed in the text of the Wall Street Reform Act. If the President were to read the legislation, I think he would be pleasantly surprised to find that in 2010 we in Congress did the work he is calling for now.
After his first weeks in office, however, I know enough about this President to interpret his order as a direction to the nation’s top financial regulators to gut Dodd-Frank and return to the pre-crisis status quo in violation of his campaign promise to help the middle class. I would caution the Secretary of the Treasury and other officials that a return to 2008 will not accomplish the stated goals and hope that any decisions will be made with the nation’s best interest, and not the best interest of Mr. Trump’s friends – the very people being regulated by Dodd Frank – in mind. In the meantime, I will continue to work every day in Congress and on the House Financial Services Committee to protect Wall Street Reform and the American public.”