As an important deadline looms in Congress, the Obama administration signaled yesterday that it would push back hard against any legislation that substantially weakens the sweeping 2010 overhaul of the financial system, the New York Times reported today. Republicans in Congress are backing legislation that would soften certain parts of the reforms, which were accomplished through the Dodd-Frank Act five years ago. They are now seeking to insert the changes into a spending bill that has to be passed by Dec. 11 to avoid a government shutdown. Last year, Congress attached a provision to a wider spending bill that ended up gutting an important part of the law regulating instruments known as swaps. The victory for Wall Street indicated that big banks still had sway in Washington, but it also helped reinvigorate the campaigns of those who want to do more to rein in large financial institutions. Jacob J. Lew, the secretary of the Treasury, yesterday sought to underscore the administration’s opposition to any meaningful concessions on Dodd-Frank. “I have publicly made clear that my recommendation to the president would be that if there are legislative measures that will roll back the clock, that would take us back toward where we were before the financial crisis, I would recommend a veto,” Lew said.
