Obama Signs Overhaul of Financial System

Obama Signs Overhaul of Financial System
By HELENE COOPER
Copyright by The New York Times
Published: July 21, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/22/business/22regulate.html?_r=1&hp


WASHINGTON — President Obama signed into law on Wednesday a sweeping expansion of federal financial regulation, marking another — and perhaps last — major legislative victory before the midterm elections in November, which could recast the congressional landscape.

The signature achievement — a response to the 2008 financial crisis that fundamentally alters the relationship between Wall Street and the federal officials charged with regulating it — is a culmination of two years of fierce lobbying and intense debate over just what should be the response to the excesses that tipped the nation into the worst recession since the Great Depression.

The law subjects more financial companies to federal oversight, regulates many derivatives contracts and creates a panel to detect risks to the financial system along with a consumer protection regulator. It leaves a number of details for regulators to work out, inevitably setting off complicated tangles down the road that could last for years.

But “because of this law, the American people will never again be asked to foot the bill for Wall Street’s mistakes,” Mr. Obama said before signing the legislation. “There will be no more taxpayer-funded bailouts. Period.”

He was surrounded by a group of mostly Democratic lawmakers and advocates of the reform legislation, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, as well as Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut and Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, who Mr. Obama lauded for ushering the bill through their respective committees.

The White House orchestrated a major signing ceremony at the Ronald Reagan Building across from the Commerce Department to trumpet the new law. “These reforms represent the strongest consumer financial protections in history,” Mr. Obama said.