Mr. Shaman
Senior Member
- May 4, 2010
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"Lawmakers hammered out a historic overhaul of financial regulations as dawn broke over the nation's capital on Friday, handing President Barack Obama a major domestic victory on the eve of a global summit devoted to financial reform.
In a marathon session of more than 21 hours, legislators agreed to a rewrite of Wall Street rules that will crimp the industry's profits and saddle it with tougher oversight and tighter restrictions.
The reform must still win final approval from both chambers of Congress before Obama can sign it into law, giving Wall Street one final chance to deploy its army of lobbyists on Capitol Hill. Quick approval is expected and the reform could go to Obama for his signature by July 4.
The bill has actually gotten tougher in its yearlong journey through the halls of Congress. Democrats rode a wave of public disgust at an industry that awarded itself rich paydays while much of the country struggled through a deep recession caused by its actions.
The most sweeping rewrite of financial rules since the 1930s aims to avoid a repeat of the 2007-2009 financial crisis, which touched off the recession and led to taxpayer bailouts of floundering financial giants. Financial institutions would have to pay $19 billion to cover its costs.
Passage of the bill, now widely expected, will also give Democrats an important legislative victory, alongside healthcare reform, ahead of congressional elections in November. The House could vote as soon as Tuesday, Frank said."
This is going to be a very strong bill, and stronger than almost everybody predicted that it could be and that I, frankly, thought it would be, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, told reporters June 23 as lawmakers prepared for the final round of talks.
The bill seeks to protect consumers, curb risks, boost surveillance of emerging threats to markets and give regulators more emergency powers to avoid future taxpayer-funded bailouts of too-big-to-fail firms."
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