Politics

Barney Frank: Go ahead, look at the economic impact of my financial law

Amanda Seitz Contributor
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Nearly one year after the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act, legislation full of regulation meant to protect consumers, some are calling for a closer examination of the bill.

Democratic Rep. Barney Frank, a lead sponsor of the legislation, said Monday that he wouldn’t mind re-examining its cost.

“I think doing cost-benefit analysis is a good idea,” Frank said at the National Press Club, but he stipulated that other costs would need to be analyzed before sending his own bill through the ringer. “I’d like to see some cost benefit analysis of infrastructure in Afghanistan and some of the other things [Republicans] are for,” Frank said. “[And] as long as the cost, of course, includes the financial crisis.”

On Bloomberg Television Monday, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association CEO Timothy Ryan expressed concern about the new law. “No one is doing the economic impact analysis for these rules, whether it’s in the U.S., whether it’s in Europe,” Ryan said. “They’re just not looking at the overall economic impact.”

Despite criticism from Ryan and others that little has been done to measure the impact of the bill, Frank touted the benefits of the act, saying that it has provided inspiration to others around the world. (Barney Frank and Ron Paul unite — over weed)

“The era of light touch regulation is over,” Frank said. “I think America is in the lead in pushing for an international set of standards which are better. Some of our friends in Europe understand that now.  The British are now talking about resolution regime that looks a lot like ours.”