senate banking committee

Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) — the notorious budget hawk who almost became President Obama’s Commerce Secretary — has accepted a spot on the powerful Banking Committee just as discussions are heating up over legislation (not yet unveiled) to reform the finance industry. The seat was vacated by former Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.), who retired last [...]

The 10 members of the panel named by Congress to investigate the causes of last year’s economic implosion appear to be wrestling with their role in this year’s push for financial industry regulatory reform, judging from their statements at today’s first hearing.
Brooksley Born, who fought unsuccessfully to regulate derivatives during her years at the helm [...]

When the news broke that they’d received special deals on loans furnished by Countrywide Financial Corp., Sens. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) both denied wrongdoing, saying they had no idea they’d gotten preferential treatment. Today, The Associated Press reports a different version of the tale, citing statements from a Countrywide employee claiming that [...]

That’s the idea that was being tossed around yesterday in the Senate, where several White House officials testified before the Banking Committee on the early failure of federal efforts to control the rising tide of foreclosures.
It was Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) to broach the topic, proposing a plan that would allow struggling homeowners on the [...]

Congressional Democrats — the same Democrats who delayed implementation of their credit card reform bill for nine months — just didn’t anticipate that the country’s credit card issuers would race to exploit that postponement by hiking rates in the meantime.
Or did they?
In a letter today to the Federal Reserve and other key financial regulators, Senate [...]

Herb Allison, President Obama’s nominee to become the Treasury’s assistant secretary for financial stability, appeared today before the Senate Banking Committee, where Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) met him with a question that’s increasingly on the minds of the nation’s struggling homeowners: Just how well is the administration’s foreclosure-prevention plan working out? Dodd said:
First, we need [...]

As the Senate today continues debate on Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) credit card reform proposal, Dodd’s 2010 GOP opponent, former Connecticut Rep. Rob Simmons, just issued a statement asking the Banking Committee chairman a biting question: What took you so long?
Credit card reform is long overdue and if Sen. Dodd wasn’t so busy collecting hundreds [...]

We all know how this battle has played out in the past. Indeed, though the House easily passed a credit card reform bill in 2008 and again this year, Senate Democrats didn’t move their version anywhere last year, and it barely got out of the Banking Committee in March.
Things could be different this time around. [...]

It’s been partly necessitated by the fact that the lawmakers themselves delayed the effective date of their bill that would do the same thing.
That is, both Sens. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) are sponsors of legislation that would prevent the same retroactive rate hikes they’re asking the Fed to stop; both sit on [...]

It’s all credit cards, all day long. And Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), a member of the Senate Banking Committee went on MSNBC, this afternoon to reiterate his earlier call for the Federal Reserve to prevent credit card companies from hiking rates on existing balances — something Congress is now largely conceding it can’t do with [...]