Taking issue with FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair, the new Republican head of the House Financial Services Committee told CNBC Thursday that the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul law actually creates more uncertainty—not less.
Scott J. Ferrell | CQ-Roll Call Group | Getty Images
Sen. Spencer Bachus (R)
“We don’t really know what the regulation is,” said Rep. Spencer Bachus, (R-Ala.), who took over the powerful committee from Democrat Barney Frank after Republicans gained control of the House in the November elections.
“It’s 2,400 pages," Bachus added in a live interview. "The regulators don’t know what it is. They have to write the rules. It will be July before we know.”
Republicans have sharply criticized Dodd-Frank, which was passed in response to the 2008 financial crisis, and have vowed to make major changes in the law or curb its effectiveness by cutting funding for regulatory agencies.
Though Baucus didn't say specifically how he would attack the law, he clearly disagreed with FDIC Chairman Bair, who told CNBC earlier Thursday that Dodd-Frank created more certaintyand that it was time "to move on."
Two areas Bachus plans to address are debit cards, which he said will result in less capital and fewer loans, and derivatives, which he said will “cost us more than a trillion dollars in extra expenses.”
"We'll go piece by piece—provision by provision," Baucus said.
Baucus took particular issue with the new financial consumer protection agency.
"First of all, that is a radical new approach to government," he said. "And it’s not a commission, it’s a director which doesn’t answer to the Congress for funding. It could have executive privilege because the interim director, Elizabeth Warren, is actually set up as a White House executive, so that she could actually assert executive immunity.
"Consumer protection is very important," Baucus added. "But setting pricing and limiting choices and micromanaging businesses and products is not really the American way."