Heritage Foundation Study: Dodd-Frank Repeal Would Boost Economy by $340 Billion

Obama, Dodd, Frank AP

A Heritage Foundation Study argues that repealing the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial overhaul would stimulate the economy by $340 billion.

Heritage economists Norbert Michel and Salim Furth estimate that eliminating Dodd-Frank would add $340 billion to the economy over a decade, and $817 billion over the next 20 years. Revenues would increase by $64 billion over the next decade.

Furth told Morning Consult that he and Michel wrote the paper to be a “ballpark estimate” of Dodd-Frank. Furth added that analyzing the economic effects of repealing Dodd-Frank is difficult because the financial law effects regulations, not spending and taxes. The Heritage economists argued that Congress and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) can take up the task of doing a more extensive analysis of Dodd-Frank’s repeal.

“The tools are out there. And the fact that the work hasn’t been done is not an excuse not to do it,” he said.

A Congressional Budget Office analysis could serve as justification for eliminating Dodd-Frank. Ryancare lost conservative and moderate support when the CBO’s score revealed that both its original and revised version would force 24 million Americans to lose their health insurance. The Dodd-Frank CBO score could also enable Republicans to figure out how to incorporate the financial law’s repeal into budgetary reconciliation, as Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) argued in a December floor speech.

President Trump told business leaders on Tuesday that repealing Dodd-Frank remains a top priority for his administration, although he hinted that he might replace Dodd-Frank with another, lighter, regulatory regime. Trump explained, “For the bankers in the room, they’ll be very happy because we’re really doing a major streamlining and, perhaps, elimination, and replacing it with something else.” Trump continued, “That will be the minimum. But we’re doing a major elimination of the horrendous Dodd-Frank regulations, keeping some obviously, but getting rid of many.”

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