Wall Street Journal’s take
January 15, 2010 | federal legislation, industry | Comments (0)The apparent willingness to forgo an independent consumer-protection agency would be a major concession for Mr. Dodd, who had blasted the banking industry for lobbying aggressively to prevent the creation of such an entity. “The very people who created the damn mess are the ones now arguing that consumers ought not to be protected,” he said in June.
Mr. Dodd’s shift comes amid a new sense of urgency to enact revamped rules governing the financial sector in what is now a narrow window before the November election.
Bipartisan support is believed necessary to pass such legislation, as Democrats aren’t likely to get the 60 Senate votes needed to overcome a potential Republican filibuster. With Mr. Dodd no longer seeking re-election, some of the pressure to apply a populist stamp on new financial regulations has eased.
Mr. Dodd’s openness brings him more in line with the top Republican on the Senate banking panel, Richard Shelby of Alabama, who has referred to the Consumer Financial Protection Agency as a “nanny state.”
Comments»
No comments yet.