April 9, 2010
US financial reform bill ‘picking up momentum’
The prospects for passage of sweeping financial reform legislation have improved recently as negotiations over the bill enter the final stretch, senior officials in the Obama administration said on Wednesday.
“I think this is picking up momentum,” Neal Wolin, deputy Treasury secretary, told reporters at the White House. “There’s a clear understanding of the importance of enacting legislation sooner rather than later.”
Having passed the healthcare overhaul last month, financial reform is expected to top the agenda in Congress next week when lawmakers return to Washington after a two-week recess.
While the House of Representatives has already passed its version of financial reform, the Senate has moved more slowly. Last month the Senate banking committee approved a financial reform package along party lines, but the measures still need to be passed by the full Senate and then reconciled with the House version.
During the break, senior Republican and Democratic lawmakers continued to negotiate possible changes to the legislation that would smooth its passage through Capitol Hill and allow Barack Obama, president, to sign the bill at the latest by the two-year anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September.
Talks over financial reform have been bogged down by disagreements over a number of issues, including the role of a new consumer protection agency, the regulation of derivatives, and provisions to eliminate the “too big to fail” problem among large financial institutions.
Mr. Wolin claimed that the administration would block any moves to water down the bill that was passed in the Senate banking committee.
“The president made clear that it’s strong enough, that we would oppose any efforts to weaken it,” he said.
Diana Farrell, deputy director of the National Economic Council, said at the same briefing that the current structure of financial regulation was allowing for “huge gaps” in investor and consumer protection and “inadequate supervision” of large interconnected financial institutions.
Ms Farrell accused critics claiming the bill was being rushed through Congress of being disingenuous. “Anyone who has wanted to engage on this issue has had plenty of opportunity to do so,” she said
AP
FEBRUARY 13th - 16th - 2010 JEDDAH ECONOMIC FORUM
Speaker Neal Wolin ~
http://www.ustreas.gov/organization/bios/wolin-e.html
Geithner Adviser, Lee Sachs, Plans to Resign as Banking Crisis Wanes
*** Links - Banking Reform ... Plan Moving Forward ...
