Consumer Law

The Status of Financial Reform in the Senate

By Brian Wolfman

This article in today's New York Times explains a push by Senate "liberals" to amend the pending financial reform legislation to break up the large banks and to audit the Federal Reserve, among other things. It notes that some Republican "conservatives" may be their best pals.  Here are a couple excerpts:

The liberal amendment that could be hardest to defeat ? and is among the most deeply dreaded by Wall Street ? also has some of the purest populist appeal: a proposal by Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Senator Ted Kaufman of Delaware to break up the nation?s biggest banks by imposing caps on the deposits they can hold and limits on other liabilities. * * * Another case in point is the proposal by Mr. Sanders, a self-described socialist, who is feeling bullish about his amendment requiring a public audit of the Fed. Mr. Sanders?s idea is opposed by the Fed and the White House, which view it as an encroachment on the central bank?s traditional independence. Conservative Republicans like David Vitter of Louisiana also support the idea, and Mr. Sanders says he believes he can win the 60 votes needed to attach his proposal to the bill.

Full post as published by CL&P Blog on May 06, 2010 (boomark / email).