Before the most expansive overhaul of our fi nancial regulatory system in decades became law, one of its chief authors, Sen. Chris Dodd, said, “No one will know until this is actually in place how it works.” One year later, the real impact of the Dodd-Frank Act largely remains a mystery.

It’s a mystery because many of the rules required by the law have yet to be written. Indeed, there are so many new mandated regulations that the bureaucrats can’t keep up. Two things we know for certain: The massive law will layer more bureaucracy on top of old regulations, and this “twilight zone” period of uncertainty will restrict capital and hobble the recovery.

Although Dodd-Frank will impact everything from derivatives to capital requirements, one of its most frightening and destabilizing features is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a new agency that has been granted unprecedented power to regulate consumer financial products and services.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with giving consumers greater protection, but overzealous or badly implemented regulations will end up hurting the very consumers the rules were designed to help. Unfortunately, the CFPB’s lack of checks and balances and inability to answer basic questions about its plans have businesses bracing for the worst.

The bureau’s structure is dangerously unlike any other federal agency. It has total authority to defi ne its jurisdiction and set its budget without oversight from Congress. All of its power is concentrated in a single director. Other agencies, like the Securities and Exchange Commission, are led by bipartisan, multimember commissions, ensuring political and policy balance. There is no such accountability at the CFPB.

The CFPB has been largely silent on critical questions about its operations. Will the bureau prevent Main Street businesses from offering their customers fi nancing? How will it protect small business access to credit, and how it will use its broad and vague mandate to prevent “unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices?”

The almost certain result of this powerful and unaccountable agency is fewer and more expensive credit options for consumers and small businesses. Restrict capital further and make it more expensive and we’ll have an even harder time getting our economy out of the ditch.

Congress needs to reform the CFPB to make it more accountable and demand answers to these basic questions through the confi rmation process. Ultimately, what’s clear about Dodd-Frank one year later is that the law’s hastily erected bureaucracy has greatly expanded the role of government and is creating uncertainty, posing a serious threat to our economic recovery.