The Committee called the hearing to provide an opportunity for the Secretary of the Treasury to present the Annual Report on the work of FSOC as required under the law. Chairman Bachus allocated one minute opening statements to eight junior majority members of the Committee. They all stayed on message saying that current economic difficulties are directly related to the 400 or so Dodd/Frank regulations that are  in place or are pending.

Ranking Member Frank reacted to the GOP position of too much regulation by saying he was back in 2006 because that was the overriding argument of the Republican before the economic recession even began. In fact, he noted, the lack of appropriate regulation were a root cause of the economic slowdown. Democratic Member Maloney looked to the future and suggested that the costs of implementing Dodd/Frank would pale against any costs that would be entailed by those refuse to raise debt ceilings or take other actions that would push the U.S.. economy over the “financial cliff.”

Treasury Secretary Geithner declared the work of FSOC successful as it has helped substantially improve the effective regulation of the financial industry. He said financial institutions must now hold more capital, retain more liquid assets and operate at lower leverage ratios.