Media Contact: Liz Friedlander
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U.S. House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Collin C. Peterson, D-Minn., made the following statement today after legislation (H.R. 1573) was introduced that would delay the implementation of Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act until December 2012.
“This is yet another misguided attempt by Republicans to see that the strong financial reforms passed by the last Congress are either weakened to the point of worthlessness or do not go into effect at all.
“The legislation’s sponsors seem to have quickly forgotten the lessons of the financial crisis. We had an over $600 trillion over the counter derivatives market with no oversight, no transparency and no regulation. As a consequence of this and many other factors, the American taxpayer ended up having to bail out large financial institutions when the financial system fell apart. The provisions within Title VII of Dodd-Frank are necessary to ensure that this never happens again.
“The CFTC has testified before the Agriculture Committee that they have the authority and flexibility to not only stagger and phase in implementation of Dodd-Frank’s derivatives rules, but also provide market participants an opportunity to make additional comments on the entire regulatory mosaic once all the rules are finalized, but before implementation. Instead of letting the CFTC move forward with its future rulemaking and implementation plans, Republicans want to push through legislation to run out the clock in their hopes that a new Republican Administration can water down the rules.
“This bill is less about protecting the interests of derivatives end users and more about protecting the special interests and financial players who want to maintain the regulatory status quo."
Source: House Committee on Agriculture
