Very Quietly, GOP Looks to Repeal Financial Reform

When House Republicans began efforts to repeal Obamacare, they did so with much fanfare. Not so for their efforts to repeal another major Obama effort: the financial reform Dodd-Frank law. Republicans quietly took the first step toward repeal yesterday, introducing the first five bills targeting Dodd-Frank at a lightly attended hearing. The bills take aim at key regulations, but the quiet approach seems to indicate the GOP doesn’t want to appear “to favor Wall Street over Main Street,” writes Meredith Shiner on Politico.

“There’s no question they didn’t like financial reform,” says one of the law’s namesakes, Rep. Barney Frank. “But they’re more respectful of the public appeal of this and are going about this at the edges.” The GOP’s approach? Arguing that Wall Street reform has hurt the economic recovery and that the bills introduced yesterday “will create new jobs and grow our economy,” the House Financial Services Committee chairman said. Many Democrats disagree. “Listen, we had a big financial crisis and we needed reform,” says Sen. Chuck Schumer. “To just repeal them, what are they putting in its place?” (More financial reform stories.)