WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton would engage in a review of financial regulations and simplify or eliminate those that are found to be unnecessary if she is elected president, a top adviser said Thursday.
"Hillary Clinton is going to take a thoughtful approach and look at where [a rule] is justified," said Gene Sperling, a Clinton campaign adviser and former director of the National Economic Council. "She would also support things like the Obama administration has done where they have done a look back and looked back at old regulations."
Sperling appeared at an event sponsored by the National Association of Business Economists in which he debated Donald Trump's economic adviser, Stephen Moore.
Sperling, who has worked in the Obama and Clinton administrations, said he also supports doing a cost-benefit analysis of financial regulation — something Republicans usually seek — but said too often the GOP focuses exclusively on the costs.
"Regulation is something that you look at with a common sense view of what the costs and the benefits are," Sperling said. "Some people don't like cost-benefit at all because on the conservative side they just tell you what the costs are … some on the progressive side are worried that cost-benefit side will be too narrow on economics and that can get into quality-of-life issues."
Sperling said the benefit of new rules may be that they help prevent another financial crisis, which cost "trillions."
However, he said there might be more room to reduce the regulatory burden for smaller companies.
"I think you are going to see someone who is going to really push for regulatory simplicity where it can be done safely on the small-business side," Sperling said. "But I think it is going to be a common-sense approach and I think you have to weigh the benefits as well as the costs. You have to remember that every time you do something, there is always an exaggeration of immediate costs."
Clinton has already put forth a plan that would reduce the regulatory burden for community banks and credit unions.
