U.s. Financial System Overhaul | featured news

Lawmakers on Tuesday spared auto dealers from new scrutiny and neared agreement on trading limits for banks as they raced to complete the biggest overhaul of the financial rule book since the 1930s.

With time running out on the Senate calendar, the banking committee chairman says he wants the panel to begin considering the bill March 22, even though the GOP can block legislation.

With time running out this year for the Senate to deal with financial regulatory reform legislation, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said Thursday he plans to offer his own bill after lengthy bipartisan talks failed to produce a consensus.

Sen. Christopher J. Dodd indicated that Democrats would forge ahead with their own bill, following months of talks that had been aimed at reaching a bipartisan consensus.

President Barack Obama singled out financial institutions for causing much of the economic tailspin and criticized their opposition to tighter federal oversight of their industry....

President Barack Obama on Tuesday embraced a House bill that would give the government unprecedented power to seize bank holding companies and other large financial firms teetering on the brink of collapse and stick their competitors with the cost....

Bernanke called on Congress to act on financial reform efforts, as the central bank itself works to implement a number of measures that should help shore up the financial system.

The financial sector ranks just behind the health industry in lobbying Congress this year: $223 million has been spent to influence financial reform efforts, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

But Politico reports that the lobbying frenzy over "re-regulation" efforts is just beginning.

Some senators criticize a plan that would give the Federal Reserve more power to police large companies.

The Obama administration's proposal to overhaul financial regulations, aimed in part at restoring global confidence in America's economic system, triggered a welcome but largely wait-and-see response from overseas investors and analysts.

President Obama said he was looking for a "careful balance" when sketching his blueprint to stabilize the nation's financial sector and wring from the system the kind of risky practices that propelled the country into economic turmoil.