Steve Mnuchin: Mr. President, it is a
great honor to have you here at Treasury.
Since day one I have made clear our priority in
working for you is delivering economic growth
to hard working Americans.
To this end we are focused on providing comprehensive
tax reform and regulatory relief for the
American people.
Your core principles of finical regulations have
been guiding our work here and will
continue to do so.
I am happy to report we are busy in our review.
Not just of Dod Frank but of the broader economic
frame work as well.
We have met with stakeholder groups of
hundreds of people representing small banks,
big banks, non-finical institutions, consumers,
and regulators.
This review is thorough and mindful of our goals.
We look forward to delivering
our findings in June.
Your directives today further highlight the
priority this administration places on
fair and efficient regulatory relief, they
provide further depth to our mission here.
We're going to go, to look back and see if the
processes regarding orderly liquidation
authority and finical stability over the
oversight designation makes sense.
We now have a targeted mandate in
place to review both.
As instructed I will report back to you on our
findings.
In the interim you are calling for a much needed
time out from the finical stability's process for
designating finical institutions if
systemically important.
Until that review is completed we have agree to
not designate any new non-bank
finical institutions.
Except In cases of emergency.
Our goal is to make this smarter, more effective
process that reduces the kind of systemic risk that
harm so many Americans during the financial
crisis of 2008.
On orderly liquidation authority we are going to
look closely to evaluate whether its frame work is
consistent with your core principles.
We intend to provide a clear analysis of what to
which extent OLA encourages inappropriate
risk taking and the extent of tax payer liability.
We will also note where additions to the
bankruptcy code may be more of an appropriate
avenue for resolving financial distress.
Finally, todays executive order and reexamination of
last years major tax regulations to make sure
that they don't unduly strain Americans
and the economy.
The order calls for revision or repeal of
harmful rules that impose unnecessary cost and
complexity on tax payers.
I look forward to taking a hard look at the
burden of our tax code.
Which consumes billions of productive hours in
compliance cost a significant amount of time
has past since the crisis.
With the passage of time and with your leadership
we are now well positioned to evaluate what works and
what doesn't.
We believe in clear and effective regulations but
not regulations for its own sake.
Were we can do so we will lift the burden of
excessive regulation to make sure that banks can
lend, small businesses can borrow and
Americans work can thrive.
So on behalf of the entire staff here at Treasury who
work tirelessly to make this country prosperous
and safe I want to extend our warmest welcome.
Ladies and gentlemen, the President of
the United States.
The President: Thank you very much, Steve.
Great honor, I must say.
It's a great pleasure to be at the United States
Treasury Department and to meet so many dedicated
public servants.
I went through that beautiful hallway where
those incredible paintings of past secretaries, and
it was really very interesting.
I want to read every one, I want to learn about
every one of them, but we have one that I hope will
go down as one of the greats.
I think Hamilton is tough to beat, but maybe you can
do that too.
We'll take it, right?
But thank you very much.
The Treasury Department is the guardian of America's
wealth and a worldwide symbol of American
prestige.
This department was first led by the same gentleman,
Alexander Hamilton, a man who understood that the
government must protect the jobs of its citizens
and the wealth of our nation.
Secretary Mnuchin, who I've known for so long,
and he's so good and so smart and so financially
adept, is working very hard every day to do just
that -- to protect the working citizen of
America, and to safeguard our finances from anyone,
anybody, any nation who would try to take
advantage of the United States.
His vast experience and financial talent are now
being put into service on behalf of the American
people.
And you'll see what I mean very soon.
We have taken unprecedented action to
bring back our jobs and return power to our
citizens.
It's been taken away.
We've lifted one terrible regulation after another
at a record clip, from the energy sector to the auto
sector.
And we have many more to go, and that's going to be
happening over the next, I would say, four to five
weeks.
And we've begun a historic effort to protect our
manufacturing and our manufacturing businesses,
companies and our workers from unfair foreign trade.
Protecting our Treasury also means getting other
countries to finally pay their fair share for the
cost of defense, and many other global projects that
for too long have fallen under our guidance and,
unfortunately, fallen under the United States
taxpayer expense.
And we're going to end that; we're going to end
it quickly.
We want fairness.
We don't want to take advantage of anyone.
We want fairness.
We're now in the process of rebuilding America, and
there's a new optimism sweeping across our
country like people have not seen in many, many
decades.
We're here today to continue this great
economic revival.
I will be signing three presidential directives to
further protect our workers and our taxpayers.
The first executive action instructs Secretary
Mnuchin to begin the process of tax
simplification.
Such a big thing.
People can't do their returns.
They have no idea what they're doing.
They're too complicated.
This regulatory reduction is the first step toward a
tax reform that reduces rates, provides relief to
our middle class, and lowers our business tax,
which is one of the highest in the world and
has stopped us from so much wealth and
productivity.
Secretary Mnuchin is a leader in our effort to
make America competitive again.
We're going to make it great again, we're going
to make it strong again, we're going to make it
safe again, and we're going to make it
competitive again.
I'm also issuing two directives that instruct
Secretary Mnuchin to review the damaging
Dodd-Frank regulations that failed to hold Wall
Street firms accountable.
I mean, they've done really, in many cases, the
opposite of what they were supposed to.
These regulations enshrine "too big to fail" and
encourage risky behavior.
We're taking steps to make our economy more fair and
prosperous for all.
As part of our broader financial strategy, we're
working to open up lending to small businesses and
entrepreneurs, including our incredible women
entrepreneurs who are doing better and better
and better.
We want opportunity for everyone and in every
single part of our country.
Secretary Mnuchin and my entire administration are
working around the clock to help struggling
Americans achieve their financial dreams, earn a
great paycheck, have a job that they love going to
every single day, and have real confidence in the
future.
Together, we will restore prosperity to this nation,
a nation that we so dearly love, and to bring people
-- who call this home -- into a great, great way of
living and a great way of life.
They're going to be thrilled.
We're going to be thrilled.
And you're going to be seeing some very, very
major changes.
You've already seen them.
I don't know if anybody has looked recently, but
if you looked at optimism indexes that are just
coming out, manufacturing in particular, where it's
up to the highest point it's ever been -- 93
percent -- it was a 27 percent increase over the
past, over the last one.
So I just want to thank everybody for being here.
This is such a privilege for me to sign.
This is really the beginning of a whole new
way of life that this country hasn't seen in
really many, many years.
I want to thank you, and I want to God bless America.
Thank you.
Thank you, everybody.
So this is identifying and reducing tax regulatory
burdens.
That covers a lot of territory, believe me.
(The President signs the executive order.)
This is the subject of Financial Stability, the
Oversight Council.
Very important.
(The President signs the executive order.)
This is Orderly Liquidation Authority.
It doesn't sound like much, but it is.
That's a biggie.
It doesn't sound good, but it is.
(The President signs the executive order.)
And we'll be having a big announcement on Wednesday
having to do with tax reform.
The process has begun long ago, but it really
formally begins on Wednesday.
So go to it.
Thank you very much, everybody.
Thank you.