Conference ended at 5:30 a.m.     Here’s the story from this morning’s Washington Post:

A new consumer protection bureau housed in the Federal Reserve would have independent funding, an independent leader and near-total autonomy to write and enforce rules. The government would have broad new powers to seize and wind down large, failing financial firms and to oversee the $600 trillion derivatives market. In addition, a council of regulators, headed by the Treasury Secretary, would monitor the financial landscape for potential systemic risks.

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They agreed to exempt the nation’s 18,000 auto dealers from oversight by a new consumer financial protection watchdog, a striking legislative victory for one of the nation’s most influential lobbying groups and blow to consumer advocates and Democratic leaders who had long opposed such a loophole. “It is time for people like myself to concede that the votes are not there to give the consumer regulator any role in this,” Frank said.

Ezra Klein, Washington Post blogger, just posted this:

Lawmakers scrambled Thursday to solidify a series of political deals in an effort to get a bill that would overhaul the nation’s financial regulation to President Obama by July 4.

As the House-Senate conference committee played out its endgame, Democratic leaders spent much of the day negotiating behind the scenes over a pair of divisive issues — bank trading and derivatives — in a bid to win crucial votes for the final legislation in both houses of Congress.

Lawmakers worked Thursday evening to find a compromise on the “Volcker rule,” named after former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker. The measure could bar banks from trading with their own money, a practice known as proprietary trading.

Senate Democrats proposed legislation previously offered by Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) that would ban certain forms of proprietary trading and forbid firms from betting against securities they sell to clients. The Merkley-Levin measure never got a vote on the Senate floor.

“One goal of these limits is to reduce participation in high-risk activity that can cause significant losses at institutions which are central to the financial system,” said the Senate banking committee’s chairman, Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.). “A second goal is to end the use of low-cost funds, to which insured depositories have access, from subsidizing high-risk activity.”

They are still fussing over a few issues.  Dodd and Frank are committed to finishing tonight.

They are taking a five minute break.  Will resume shortly.  Here’s the link.

From Politico: 

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) accused a handful of senators Thursday of “hijacking” the Wall Street reform negotiations.

 Corker directed his comments at Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, but he was referring to the Connecticut Democrat’s intense negotiations with a handful of moderate Republicans and Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.).

 “A few senators, over very parochial single-issue items, almost are hijacking the process, and I just want to say to my friend there are a numbers of ways to get to 60 votes,” Corker said to Dodd. “And it is fascinating to watch. Now, a few senators who really haven’t spent a lot of time on this issue — over one issue — potentially hijacked the process.”

 Corker’s comments set the tone for what is expected to be a frantic effort Thursday to finish the conference report on the Wall Street reform bill. House and Senate aides predicted a late night, given that several major issues have not been decided.

They’re still slugging it out over derivatives.   That’ll be the final drama.

I’m hearing the conference could be over by 3:00 p.m. today.

From The Hill:

The conference committee putting the final touches on the Wall Street reform measure is taking steps to ease concerns raised by Republican Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Olympia Snowe (Maine) and Scott Brown (Mass.). In May, those three joined Sen. Chuck Grassley (Iowa) as the only Republican senators to help pass the bill after two Democrats, Russ Feingold (Wis.) and Maria Cantwell (Wash.), defected.

In the final hours of the two-week conference process, Democrats are also working behind the scenes to bridge internal party splits over a highly controversial provision from Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) that would restrict banks’ derivatives trading. Scores of centrist and New York House lawmakers in a series of letters this week have raised concerns or outright opposition to the provision. House Democratic leaders were holding a series of negotiations on the issue, and centrist New Democrats and New York members were preparing for a meeting with Lincoln. 

The White House is extremely excited.

USA Today says the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has a “big job.”    My favorite quote from the story:

“It ought to be called the Office of Credit Contraction and Job Loss,” warns Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas. “The very credit cards you carry in your wallet can be determined by the federal government. In the land of the free, if I want to take out a certain mortgage that’s right for me and my family, why should a federal bureaucrat tell me I can’t?”