The White House snatched back one of the few bones it's thrown to the people outraged at the looting of the United States Treasury by failed financial concerns - the big banks and Wall Street. The promised appointment Elizabeth Warren as head of the new agency to protect consumers from the financial services industry has been seriously downgraded. Instead of running the Consumer Finance Protection Agency, Warren's role has been diminished to that of special assistant to the president and adviser to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.
"President Obama, sidestepping a possibly heated confirmation battle, will appoint Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren as a special advisor to the Treasury Department to launch the government's powerful new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to two Democratic officials familiar with the decision." LA Times, Sept 15
Update: The bill passed, 59-39. Next stop will be the conference committee, where a manager's amendment along with other modifications are possible.
Update: Republicans blocked the Merkley-Levin amendment. The amendment which would have stopped proprietary trading with taxpayers, account holders money. Nasdaq News:
Two of the most anxiously awaited amendments to the U.S. Senate's financial-overhaul bill will not get votes after Republicans maneuvered to kill a controversial plan to sharply curb a lucrative Wall Street trading business.
As the endgame on the bill drew close, Republican leaders convinced U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback (R., Kan.) to withdraw his hot-button amendment that would have excluded auto dealers from oversight by the new consumer watchdog created by the bill.
Brownback's move effectively squashed a second, contentious amendment that had been attached, for strategic reason, to the Brownback amendment. The second amendment--hotly opposed by Wall Street--would have banned most banks from using their own capital to make market bets, so-called proprietary trading.
While the Senate and House have debated the health care reform endlessly, fighting tooth and nail at every step, all the while being broadcast on network television, the financial reform bill is quietly moving along under the radar. On the same day that Senator Dodd proposed his sweeping reform bill, it passed committee.
“The bill that finally passes on the floor will be a much more business-friendly bill,” Miller said today. “They won’t get a bill done until Dodd and Shelby agree on the compromise, but Republicans do want to get a bill done this year. So there’s incentive for both sides to come to agreement.”
The fact that the bill is going to be watered down even more is a sad statement to an on-going tragedy.
It’s all in the family! Senator Chris Dodd writes a financial reform bill but forgets to regulate derivatives, “financial weapons of mass destruction.” Then we find out that his wife works for the owners of two exchanges that will very likely benefit from Dodd's “reform” legislation.
They make the rules. They take the money, all of it, and leave us with debt. And they tell us it’s all legal.
You may be wondering why you haven't seen a post overview on the latest Senator Dodd's Financial Reform Bill, Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010 (link has legislative summary and text). That's because, as usual, it's a dud.
Firstly a few summary points are listed here. The Huffington Post has a list of other criticisms, including the political on Dodd 2.0. Also, yet another New York Times op-ed points to the well known fact, putting the CFPA under the Federal Reserve will de facto kill consumer financial protection.
Senator Chris Dodd has introduced a massive bill on financial regulation reform. It is over 1100 pages and attached to this post. Below is a reprint from the summary of the major regulation bodies structure overhaul:
The Financial Institutions Regulatory Administration
Independent: Headed by an independent chairman appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, a Vice Chairman experienced in state banking regulation, and a board including the chairmen of the FDIC and the Federal Reserve and two other independent members. It will be funded primarily
by assessments on the industry.
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