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For Immediate Release

Trump Executive Orders Overturning Wall Street Reform Betray Campaign Promises; Media Availability

Today, President Donald Trump is expected to issue two executive orders that direct a reversal of Wall Street reforms. In one, he is expected to ask bank regulators to review and propose a rollback of safeguards enacted in 2010 as the Obama administration's response to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. In a second order, he is expected to instruct the U.S. Department of Labor to delay a rule intended to protect investors from brokers who sell them overpriced investments. The experts below are available for interview or comment.

WASHINGTON

Today, President Donald Trump is expected to issue two executive orders that direct a reversal of Wall Street reforms. In one, he is expected to ask bank regulators to review and propose a rollback of safeguards enacted in 2010 as the Obama administration's response to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. In a second order, he is expected to instruct the U.S. Department of Labor to delay a rule intended to protect investors from brokers who sell them overpriced investments. The experts below are available for interview or comment.

"The Wall Street bankers against whom Trump ran are making policy now. The worst job-destroying economic crisis since the Great Depression was directly caused by deregulation and regulatory failure. Now the president who ran on a jobs-creation platform announces that he aims to slash the modest measures put in place to prevent a recurrence of the crisis. If Trump succeeds in rolling back Dodd-Frank rules he will rush the country straightforward into another job-killing financial crisis. This may be the most spectacular betrayal yet by the president of his voters, as he shunts aside their concerns and pushes forward the agenda of his cronies and the well-connected."

-Robert Weissman, president, Public Citizen

"Bankers that candidate Trump pledged to purge from his administration are instead now apparently, invited to bully independent regulators into a review and possible dismantlement of the guardrails established after the Wall Street crash. That will be especially cruel to those savaged by big banks and who also supported Donald Trump's candidacy."

-Lisa Gilbert, director, Public Citizen's Congress Watch division

"Delaying a rule that simply directs brokers to put their client interests ahead of their own clearly demonstrates whose side the Trump administration favors."

-Bartlett Naylor, financial policy advocate, Public Citizen's Congress Watch division

Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power and work to ensure that government works for the people - not for big corporations. Founded in 1971, we now have 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country.

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