As anniversary approaches, Republicans flunk Dodd-Frank

The Dodd-Frank financial reform law is not making the grade one year into its existence, according to House Republicans.

To commemorate the approaching one-year anniversary of the Wall Street overhaul, Republicans from the House Financial Services Committee brought out the visual aids, using an oversized report card to assign failing grades to the many shortcomings they see with the law.

“It doesn’t take any economist to realize that by any measure, the Dodd-Frank bill is an abject failure," said Rep. Francisco "Quico" Canseco (R-Texas).

Members used the recent increase in unemployment and the continued struggles of the housing market to argue that the new rules created by the law are weighing on small businesses and banks.

The law has put the nation on "a collision course with economic mediocrity," said Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.).

"The bill itself was too big and failed to address the root cause of the financial crisis, and that’s housing," added Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.).

They also said the law failed to end Too Big to Fail, to level the economic playing field, and to strengthen the economy.

In fact, conservative lawmakers were willing to give the Wall Street reform law just one passing grade — an 'A' for expanding the size of government.

"Where we need more jobs, what we're getting is more government," said Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas).

One year after the president signed the sweeping overhaul into law, the fate of the measure is still very much up for grabs. Regulators have been in overdrive since its enactment, drafting and finalizing hundreds of rules, with many still undefined.

To combat that effort, Republicans have pushed to cut the budgets of those regulators when possible, while pushing legislation modifying or repealing some provisions of the law.

However, a broad effort to repeal the law has yet to gain substantial traction, even as bills to do just that have been introduced in both the House and Senate.

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