The Hill reports that Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has declined to sign a letter circulated by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the minority leader, asking Republicans to vow to block the financial reform bill from coming to a vote. Democrats only need one crossover to prevent a Republican filibuster and More…
In some sense, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission is a lame duck. Headed by Phil Angelides and created in May 2009, the FCIC is not due to file its final report until December. Financial reform legislation will likely come up for a vote next month. The panel’s ultimate recommendations will More…
For those with a basic grasp of (non-political) economics and a keen memory for how massive consumer fraud and non-transparent financial products helped cause the current economic crisis, it’s an obvious proposition: Helping consumers avoid fraud, usury, overly powerful banks and fee-hungry brokers is good for the economy. But a More…
Following last night’s speedy passage of sweeping finance reforms in the Senate Banking Committee, much of the focus has been on the Republicans’ strategy to take the fight over the bill to the Senate floor, rather than pushing amendments during what was supposed to have been a long-drawn More…
They weren’t kidding when they said this evening’s markup of finance reform legislation would be a speedy affair.
The Banking Committee took less than an hour to pass the bill — along a party-line vote of 13 to 10 — and send it to the chamber floor. The quick process More…
Anyone who has seen the seminal Schoolhouse Rock video “How a Bill Becomes a Law” likely thinks that, when a bill is signed into law, the government can begin enforcing it. Anyone who’s worked in Washington, including former Fed chairman and Obama economic adviser Paul Volcker, More…
The extraordinarily comprehensive bankruptcy examiner’s report on Lehman Brothers is the gift that keeps on giving to financial reform advocates, above and beyond even the revelations that Lehman was cooking its books and no one noticed for years. According to Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism, the report is More…
Although Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) is getting grief for all that he doesn’t plan on doing with his financial regulation reform bill, one thing that is in the bill is some regulation of over-the-counter derivatives that forces them onto exchanges. While Republicans like Sen. Richard Shelby More…
Tea Party Nation blasted out an email asking its Tennessee members to protest Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and stop financial reform legislation — which conservatives have done a lot to define, under the radar, as some sort of socialist scheme.
Senator Bob Corker (RINO-TN) has announced there
What happens if you’re chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and your negotiations with the panel’s senior Republican over finance reform break down? If you’re Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), you recruit Sen. Bob Corker (Tenn.) to be the new lead Republican. Here’s Dodd’s statement explaining why:
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