[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 115 (Wednesday, July 22, 2015)]
[House]
[Page H5337]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   DODD-FRANK WALL STREET REFORM ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Nevada (Mr. Hardy) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HARDY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss the unfortunate Dodd-
Frank Wall Street Act.
  This week marks the fifth anniversary of the signing of the law that 
was the Democratic answer to the recession that impacted our Nation.
  My State, the State of Nevada, was devastated by the meltdown which 
started with the weakening of the credit standards, and it erupted into 
foreclosures that brought our fiscal system to the edge of the cliff.
  At the peak of the recession, Nevada had an unemployment rate of 13.7 
percent. Nevadans all over the State were losing their jobs, their 
homes, and their businesses.
  The Democratically controlled Congress and the Democratically 
controlled White House responded with regulation after regulation on 
the false pretense that the crash was caused by the lack of rules.
  Five years in and what do we have today? We have for the first time 
in over three decades more small businesses failing than being started. 
Think about that. We have more small business deaths than we have small 
business births.
  The life blood of our Nation lies with small businesses. According to 
the 2012 data from the Small Business Administration, 64 percent of all 
private-sector jobs were created by small businesses. Half of all 
people employed in this country work for small businesses.
  I am going to repeat we now have more small business deaths than we 
have small businesses being started. They are being suffocated by 400 
new Federal regulations.
  One-size-fits-all rules have impacted small bankers, so much that we 
have less community banks now than we had before Dodd-Frank.
  These small community banks serve my constituents. They serve the 
neighbors of my district. They serve the neighborhoods of our country.
  These community banks were not the banks making the risky loans. They 
were building strong relationships with their customers, but now, 
because of Dodd-Frank, there are fewer of them.
  How did Dodd-Frank address Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? It didn't. It 
didn't reform Fannie or Freddie. Dodd-Frank, in essence, is top-down 
governance from Washington bureaucrats.
  Instead of ending too-big-to-fail, regulators inserted it into law. 
We now have SIFIs, systemically important financial institutions.
  If a bank is defined as a SIFI, it will surely be the first to be 
bailed out because they are systemically too important.
  This presents a problem of moral hazard. Dodd-Frank put it in law 
that they will be bailed out by Americans and their hard-earned money. 
Dodd-Frank was supposed to end this practice and it was supposed to 
protect the consumer.
  After 5 years, we now have SIFIs. We now have fewer community banks. 
Simply put, our businesses are facing higher borrowing costs and the 
inability to create jobs.
  Nevada today has an unemployment rate of 6.9 percent. Nevadans don't 
want more regulations, they want more jobs. Like all Americans, they 
want more opportunities. They want access to capital to start their new 
companies and businesses.
  Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, the burdensome Dodd-Frank law is still 
churning out final rules. Americans will continue to face the red tape 
during this slog of a recovery.

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