A House subcommittee held a hearing in Wausau on Monday on Wall Street reforms that passed last year. Bankers claim they are more cautious about who they lend to given the regulatory environment.
“Federal laws meant to regulate Wall Street ought to not adversely affect main street but that is precisely what is happening,” says Todd Nagel, River Valley Bank President.
Wisconsin Congressman Sean Duffy (R-Weston) is in favor of “simplifying, streamlining the process” for the ease of consumers.
But an official with the Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council testified that parts of the Dodd-Frank reforms are working and she urged lawmakers to keep those measures that are protecting consumers.
Duffy sponsored a bill the House passed in July that would revamp financial reforms. His measure would replace the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with a five-member bipartisan commission. It would also give that panel greater leeway in overturning regulations that threaten the safety of the U.S. banking system. The bill has stalled in the Democratic-led Senate.
Matt Lehman – WSAU