CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton sharply criticized Republican efforts to revamp a 2010 financial regulation law Tuesday, calling it a “cynical attempt to game the system for those at the top.”
But she continued to sidestep questions about her views on an Asia-Pacific trade pact that has divided fellow Democrats. She noted concerns have been raised about currency manipulation, as well as health and environmental protections, but said it’s too soon for her to declare her support or opposition.
“I want to judge the final agreement,” said Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination. “I have been for trade agreements. I have been against trade agreements.”
Meeting small business owners at a Cedar Falls bicycle shop, Clinton called for easing regulations for small community banks, but not for the types of large financial institutions that contributed to the 2008 economic crisis.
Clinton’s stance put her in line with many progressive Democrats, such as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. That same wing of the party opposes the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal that President Barack Obama is pushing.
Clinton said that if elected president, she would scrub federal regulations and cut unnecessary red tape that might limit community banks from providing loans to small businesses. She said she would also offer incentives for state and local governments to do the same thing.
“You shouldn’t have to be a Fortune 500 company to get a loan,” she said.
The Senate’s banking committee chairman, Republican Richard Shelby of Alabama, has introduced legislation to give banks with assets of more than $50 billion a chance to avoid tighter supervision. Some Democrats say regulatory relief should be limited to credit unions and smaller community banks.
Shelby’s legislation would be the most ambitious rewrite of rules governing the financial services sector since Democrats passed the Dodd-Frank law when controlling Congress in 2010.
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