Financial Reform Watch

Tired of being labeled as obstructionists, Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee on Thursday issued their plan for financial regulatory reform. Led by the committee’s Ranking Minority Member Spencer Bachus (R-AL) and TARP Congressional Oversight Committee member Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), the Republican solutions stem from three principles – prevent any future Wall Street bailouts; stop the government from picking winners and losers in the financial system; and restore market discipline.

While the Republican plan does not address every issue -- most notably missing is insurance regulation – those included represent a consensus view within their caucus. Bachus described their plan as a “line in the sand” from which Republicans can negotiate with the Democrats. Hensarling, who before coming to Congress served on the executive compensation committee of a company publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange, was particularly critical of the latest push to regulate compensation. A better approach, Hensarling believes, is the creation of a new “Market Stability and Capital Adequacy Board,” which would be charged with flagging risky practices across the board. The Republicans offered as an example the practice of rewarding loan originators for loan volume with no regard to loan quality, saying that such a board would have been able to halt that.

The White House plans to release its comprehensive reform plan on June 17th. Will the Obama administration give a nod to bipartisanship by including a few elements of the Republican plan? Financial Reform Watch will compare and contrast the plans later this week.

Central Elements of the Republican Plan