美国国家公共电台 NPR Congress Rolls Back Part Of Dodd-Frank, Easing Rules For Midsize, Smaller Banks

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The House passed a rollback of banking¹ regulations yesterday. These are some of the Dodd-Frank rules meant to prevent a repeat of some of the worst abuses of the financial crisis. The White House says President Trump² is expected to sign this bill into law as soon as possible. NPR's Chris Arnold reports.

CHRIS ARNOLD, BYLINE³: Many Democrats⁵ were not happy about this bill, which loosens regulations just a decade after reckless lending and investing by financial firms sent the country into the worst housing crash and recession in generations.

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KEITH ELLISON: Some of my colleagues may have forgotten about the bad, bad days of that crash in 2008.

ARNOLD: Democrat⁴ Keith Ellison of Minnesota spoke⁶ out against the bill on the House floor.

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ELLISON: Millions of people lost their homes. Two point six trillion - with a T - vanished from people's retirement⁷ accounts. Why on earth would we go back there?

ARNOLD: But Republicans say the Dodd-Frank rules went too far and hurt smaller banks, the ones that are not a risk to the financial system or too big to fail. Jeb Hensarling chairs the House Financial Services Committee.

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JEB HENSARLING: The Main Street banks and credit unions that people depend on - they've been suffering. They've been suffering for years under the cost of heavy Washington bureaucratic⁸ red tape.

ARNOLD: In order to get the bill passed through both the House and Senate, though, some Democrats had to be willing to cross the aisle⁹ and vote for it. And given that, the changes are not as dramatic as they could have been. That's according to the man whose name is on the Dodd-Frank law, former Representative Barney Frank. He says this new bill goes a bit too far in loosening regulations but...

BARNEY FRANK: Not much too far - I would vote against it if I were there.

ARNOLD: But Frank says he actually supports parts of the bill. For one thing, he says it gives small banks a free pass from rules that block certain kinds of risky¹⁰ investments. Frank says banks with less than $10 billion in assets don't really do that kind of trading anyway. But the law creates headaches for them.

FRANK: It turns out their lawyers tell them they've got to be super careful. They're wasting a lot of money proving they don't do what we know they don't do. So I'm happy to get that one done.

ARNOLD: Frank says, though he has two big problems with the bill, right now banks with at least $50 billion in assets have to deal with lots of tests and rules and reporting to make sure that they don't collapse¹¹ and threaten the financial system. This new bill lets many banks escape all that. Financial firms like SunTrust and American Express could avoid the tougher rules because now those rules won't kick in unless a bank has $250 billion in assets.

FRANK: Two-fifty is too much. One $250 billion failing will almost certainly not be a problem. But if two - certainly if three fail, that would be a problem.

ARNOLD: The other part of this that he doesn't like is that the bill weakens reporting requirements aimed at detecting and preventing racial discrimination in lending. Consumer watchdog groups have other problems with the new bill. Marcus Stanley is with Americans for Financial Reform.

MARCUS STANLEY: This bill really does so many deregulatory things. It prevents risk controls on commercial real estate lending. It also eliminates consumer protections for people selling mobile homes to poor families all over the country.

ARNOLD: But Barney Frank says the most fundamental parts of his signature Dodd-Frank Act remain intact, its biggest protections for consumers and the whole financial system. And he says this bill fixes the problems that even some Democrats wanted to fix. So he says Republicans have used all the political gunpowder¹² they had in this one bill. And that means they won't be able to come back later and pass more drastic changes.

Chris Arnold, NPR News.

1 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

2 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

5 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

8 bureaucratic   

adj.官僚的，繁文缛节的

参考例句：

• The sweat of labour washed away his bureaucratic airs.劳动的汗水冲掉了他身上的官气。
• In this company you have to go through complex bureaucratic procedures just to get a new pencil.在这个公司里即使是领一支新铅笔，也必须通过繁琐的手续。

9 aisle   

n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道

参考例句：

• The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
• The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。

10 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

11 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

12 gunpowder   

n.火药

参考例句：

• Gunpowder was introduced into Europe during the first half of the 14th century.在14世纪上半叶，火药传入欧洲。
• This statement has a strong smell of gunpowder.这是一篇充满火药味的声明。