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64 engaging in the kind of derivative trading that accelerated the worst parts of the recession. Still, Moran didn't seem to express much confidence in such changes to FSOC. "Right now, with everything so politicized, I think that anything that loosens or eliminates the capital requirements or relaxes stress tests . . . is politically fraught," Moran said. "I'm not sure such changes are worth it when financial institutions are clearly not hurting." As with any bill that emerges from Congress—on the right or left—CHOICE doesn't just come out and say what it would do on a de facto basis. Buried in the five-hundred- page bill is a provision that would eliminate the Office of Financial Research (OFR), an agency that supports FSOC with data analysis. "Many conservatives who are skeptical of Dodd-Frank consider the OFR a breeding ground for mischief," Goldberg said. "ey believe that the OFR's research studies and reports lay the foundations for what they consider to be more unnecessary and intrusive regulatory activity." For their parts, conservatives concerned with Dodd-Frank feel confident about CHOICE-style alterations. aya Brook Knight, an associate director of financial regulatory studies at Cato, said that Dodd- Frank only reinforced what had been, until the crisis, an implicit backstop for beleaguered too-big-to-fail firms. "I would like to see an explicit repudiation of any such guarantee at all," Knight wrote in an email. She voiced support for stripping FSOC of its designation authority and supplanting the CFPB director with a multi- person commission. WHEN TO BRAKE As for when anyone can expect the rollout of a Dodd-Frank alternative, no one seemed to know for sure. e law firm Squire Patton Boggs released a recent assessment with the prediction that Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), who authored CHOICE, would likely reintroduce the bill sometime this year. Knight confirmed that CHOICE 2.0 was in the works but said she hadn't seen anything yet. Goldberg foresaw a delay in the reform process. e Dentons principal said Republicans had originally planned for a two- to three-month repeal process for Dodd- Frank—a timetable that he wasn't sure they could follow too closely. "It seems clear that healthcare, immigration, and tax reform issues have become more immediate priorities for the Trump administration [and Republicans in Congress] than regulatory reform involving Dodd-Frank," Goldberg said. Still, sources insisted on reminding readers, not everything is about politics—no, not even in divided America. No matter its ultimate efficacy—or its deleterious effects— Dodd-Frank presides over the world's most sophisticated financial system. Goldberg, Moran, and others each individually stressed that a race to amend Dodd-Frank too quickly could undermine a still-soft economic recovery. "We're not really out of the woods yet" after the financial crisis, Haedtler said. "To declare victory on the recovery and go back to a regulatory environment that is even weaker than the pre-crisis regulatory environment seems like an incredibly risky thing to do." Even so, conservatives have their gripes about Dodd-Frank's economic impact, and those gripes aren't unfounded. Small and independent community banks complain that rules for too-big-to-fail institutions burden their staffs and discourage lending. Moreover, a number of large reputable lenders have exited the mortgage market in the last several years, often citing concerns about stifling compliance burdens. Alarmingly, one Harvard study found in 2015 that community banks had seen their shares of assets shrink by more than 12 percent since the financial reform law's enactment. e study's authors declared that "an increasingly complex and uncoordinated regulatory system has created an uneven regulatory playing field that is accelerating consolidation for the wrong reasons." Adham Sbeih, CEO of the Sacramento- based Socotra Capital, agreed with those findings. He said in an email that regulations like the Volcker Rule and agencies like the CFPB "reduce the pace and profit of the real- estate market," thus hindering growth. "ese restrictions add to the cost of the loan, increase the length of time necessary to obtain a loan, and reduce the pool of potential buyers," Sbeih added. e new president echoed those concerns recently when he ordered a review of financial- services regulations. e Los Angeles Times quoted Trump as saying, "We expect to be cutting a lot out of Dodd-Frank because, frankly, I have so many people, friends of mine that had nice businesses, they can't borrow money." Moran seemed to have no illusions about the road ahead for Dodd-Frank. "I think politics will trump policy," the former congressman said. He laughed when asked whether the pun was intended. "We're not really out of the woods yet after the financial crisis. To declare victory on the recovery and go back to a regulatory environment that is even weaker than the pre-crisis regulatory environment seems like an incredibly risky thing to do." -Jordan Haedtler, Manager for Fed Up Campaign

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