Heritage Foundation financial regulations expert Norbert Michel released the following statement this morning after the United States Senate cleared a banking bill making reforms to the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010:

“The banking bill approved by the Senate last night is a good first step toward loosening and undoing the overbearing regulations imposed on small banks, but make no mistake, this bill must not be the ending point, but the beginning. Since the 2008 recession, wrong-headed politicians have misdiagnosed the cause of the 2008 crisis and in their haste to take action imposed stifling regulations on financial institutions across this country. Instead of preventing the next recession, they have done next to nothing to correct the systemic problems that led to the last one. Instead of preventing future bailouts of big banks, they have all but guaranteed future bailouts with more taxpayer money.

 

“While the Senate bill provides crucial relief to smaller banks, a better solution would be to provide comprehensive reforms – such as those in the Financial Choice Act – to all banks. Only a complete revamping of Dodd-Frank and the regulatory framework that predates it will prevent another crisis like the one that occurred in 2008 and will ensure that American taxpayers aren’t on the hook to bailout Wall Street in the future.”