Sen. Christopher Dodd said the work is far from done in terms of regulatory reform.
“We have just established a framework,” the Connecticut Democrat said at the SIFMA Conference on Monday. “The rest is up to regulators and many in this room. It is the government’s duty to set the parameters and remain a vigilant watchdog.”
Dodd said that the parameters are taking shaping. Since the Dodd-Frank Bill was signed into law three months ago the “process of implementation is moving swiftly,” but there are still areas that require attention. Dodd said that this include further GSE Reform and more work on legislation regarding Too Big To Fail.
“The bankruptcy code needs to be reformed and clearly that hasn’t happened in this bill,” Dodd said.
Dodd said President Obama needs to act swiftly to find a permanent director for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He told Charlie Rose during an “interview” that he thinks Elizabeth Warren is qualified to handle the position permanently, but “you have to be confirmable, it doesn’t matter if you are qualified, you have to have the votes. I am suggesting based on my observations that that would pose some difficulties."
Dodd said the bureau could become "a target of opportunity" for critics seeking to undo the regulatory reform if a permanent head isn't named soon.
Dodd said he would “go to his grave believing TARP was the right thing” for the U.S. economy. He said this program cost a lot of Democrats their seats in Congress, but “if we had not acted to stabilize the financial system we would be having a very different conversation today.”
Dodd says this needs to be a “Congress of oversight.”
“It is going to be very, very important that people in Congress are looking over this thing [Dodd-Frank],” he said.
Dodd said he think that there are tremendous opportunities in this legislation. “This was never designed to be punitive or pointing fingers,” he said. “We needed to fix the system.”
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