The Senate Banking Committee welcomes Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) to testify on the first anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The financial regulation bill has contributed to higher unemployment by imposing needless regulation on small and large financial institutions. It has deterred investment by imposing ill-defined restrictions on those who want to invest in the economy. The law has recently been under increased scrutiny.

Today also marks the opening of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, created by Dodd-Frank. Heritage’s Diane Katz called it an “unchecked regulatory agency” that poses a threat to consumers. Earlier this week President Obama tapped Richard Cordray to head the CFPB, a nominee the free-market Club for Growth labeled “just another foot-soldier in Obama’s war on economic freedom.”

Across the globe, meanwhile, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continues her tour of Asia today with a trip to Indonesia, a country that ranked 116th in the 2011 edition of Heritage’s Index of Economic Freedom. That puts it 22nd out of 41 countries in the Asia-Pacific region.