Politics

Republican Leader Boehner on Wall Street Reform: ?An Overreaction? to ?An Ant?

By Karina

In an interview published today, Republican Leader John Boehner tells the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that the Wall Street Reform bill putting consumers first and ending the era of taxpayer-funded bailouts and too-big-to-fail institutions is “an overreaction to the financial crisis”:

Boehner criticized the financial regulatory overhaul compromise reached last week between House and Senate negotiators as an overreaction to the financial crisis that triggered the recession. The bill would tighten restrictions on lending, create a consumer protection agency with broad oversight power and give the government an orderly way to dissolve the largest financial institutions if they run out of money.

?This is killing an ant with a nuclear weapon,? Boehner said. What?s most needed is more transparency and better enforcement by regulators, he said.

An ant, Mr. Boehner? It was the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression?Americans lost 8 million jobs and $17 trillion in retirement savings and net worth. The irresponsible fiscal policies of George W. Bush and Congressional Republicans were much bigger than an ant to American workers, their families and small businesses.

Full post as published by The Gavel on June 29, 2010 (boomark / email).