Gingrich, Bachmann Press to Repeal Dodd-Frank

Republican presidential candidates Newt Gingrich and Michele Bachmann are pushing the GOP-controlled House to repeal the Dodd-Frank 2009 financial reform law. But GOP leaders in the House — and the Senate — are in no rush to make the attempt because the effort probably would fail, and Dodd-Frank doesn’t resonate with ordinary Americans like the 2009 healthcare reform law, The Hill reports.

Indeed some Americans like the idea of putting more regulatory clamps on banks after taxpayers had to bail them out during the financial crisis. Some Republicans believe trying to repeal Dodd-Frank would simply give Democrats political leverage, allowing them to brand Republicans as defenders of Wall Street greed.

Gingrich and Bachmann are insistent. During the GOP presidential debate Tuesday, former House Speaker Gingrich said, “I am shocked that the House Republicans have not repealed Dodd-Frank. They ought to do it now.” He even suggested that the bill’s sponsors, former Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., should be thrown in jail.

Minnesota Rep. Bachmann has introduced a bill for repeal, but the House leadership hasn’t joined to sponsor it.

Both House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have kept the issue on the back burner. To some extent, they’re caught between a rock and a hard place. If Republicans push for repeal, Democrats will call them lapdogs for Wall Street. But if they do nothing, conservatives will be upset for their lack of commitment to deregulation.