New House Bill Disguises Obstruction of Wall Street Reform as Cost-Benefit Analysis
May 17, 2013
New House Bill Disguises Obstruction of Wall Street Reform as Cost-Benefit Analysis
Statements of Lisa Gilbert and Amit Narang, Public Citizen, Congress Watch Division
On the full House of Representatives vote expected today re: HR 1062, the SEC Regulatory Accountability Act, which would impose cost-benefit analysis requirements upon the SEC’s existing economic analysis requirements that are unnecessary and could paralyze implementation of Dodd-Frank:
Lisa Gilbert, Director, Congress Watch:
“The Garrett bill represents one of the more subtle attacks on Dodd-Frank reform. It epitomizes the strategy of using innocent-seeming cost-benefit analysis to slow implementation of the rules mandated by the laws to a crawl, if not a halt. Those who push these bills have realized that if they can’t overturn reform legislation, they can instead push for process changes to agency rulemaking to undermine the effectiveness of that legislation on the back end. We hope that other legislators see through this tactic, and push back on ‘regulatory reform,’ which clearly intends to undermine public protections needed for Main Street.”
Amit Narang, Regulatory Policy Advocate, Congress Watch:
“This legislation ensures not that the SEC conduct cost-benefit analysis, since the SEC already does routine and rigorous cost-benefit analysis. Rather, this legislation ensures that the SEC’s cost-benefit analyses reflect Wall Street’s preferences and will lead to further delayed and watered-down reforms. Supporters of this legislation have it exactly wrong in seeking to hold the SEC accountable. What Main Street wants is a strong SEC that finishes the job of holding Wall Street accountable for the financial crisis.”
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