It’s Official, Obama Signs Financial Reform Into Law

With a few strokes of several pens, President Barack Obama achieved his second major legislative accomplishment today, signing the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act into law.

Addressing an audience of roughly 400 stakeholders, lawmakers and members of the public, the President praised the architects of the legislation, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.). He reiterated many of the same talking points he has used to garner support for the bill, and softly chided Republicans for delaying the bill’s passage.

“Passing this bill was no easy task,” he said.  “To get there, we had to overcome the furious lobbying of an array of powerful interest groups and a partisan minority determined to block change.”

However, Mr. Obama did thank Republican Senators Scott Brown (R-Mass.), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), the only three members of the GOP to vote for the bill.

Throughout his remarks, the President noted what a long journey getting financial reform passed had been. In fact, Mr. Obama spoke about the need to fix the financial system as early as June of last year, and the House passed its version of the bill last December. Yet, progress stalled in the Senate, mainly due to the fact that Democrats could not muster 60 votes in support.

Republicans and other business groups, notably the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Businesses, opposed the legislation on the grounds that it would expand the reach and size of the federal government, and would over-regulate the market. Additionally, some conservative Democrats, including Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), expressed concerns over a proposed Consumer Protection Bureau.

However, Snowe and Collins threw their support behind the bill after they were able to secure favorable language for small businesses in their state, and Brown came aboard after getting Dodd to agree to strike a $18 billion dollar fee on big banks.