President Trump promised a major revamp or even wholesale replacement of former President Barack Obama’s financial reform law Tuesday, raising expectations for what he can deliver even as Republicans in Congress have downplayed the legislative possibilities.
Trump spoke about the 2010 Dodd-Frank law at a meeting with CEOs at the White House, saying that his administration is “really doing a major streamlining and perhaps elimination and replacing it with something else.”
He said that he is aiming to keep some of the law’s rules, “obviously, but getting rid of many.” The bankers among the assembled businessmen, he added, “will be really happy.”
In recent days, Republicans opposed to Dodd-Frank have indicated that a sweeping rewrite of the law is not a viable strategy and instead have suggested that they may pursue bipartisan legislation or narrower bills aimed at specific provisions of the law. While prominent bankers have called for regulatory relief, they do not favor eliminating Dodd-Frank.
While the Trump administration, on its own, could change many of the rules to lessen the burden on banks, many of the most significant rules are required by law and could not be done away without action from Congress.
Trump, though, has consistently talked up the prospects of a major overhaul.
In an earlier meeting with CEOs last week, Trump promised a “major haircut” for the law.
