Senate Committee Making Progress on Financial Regulatory Reform Bill

A bipartisan effort by members of the Senate Banking Committee to draft a financial regulatory reform bill is making progress, according to committee leaders. Committee members have been in talks for several weeks to reach a consensus on producing a bill, according to committee chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and ranking Republican Richard Shelby of Alabama. The two said the talks have been productive and they hope to resolve remaining issues by January. The House of Representatives passed a reform bill that deals with the resolution of large financial institutions, strengthening consumer protection, restructuring the supervision of depository institutions and improving oversight of derivatives. Senate Banking Committee members are trying to address the same issues but they are expected to come up with a very different bill. In mid-November, Sen. Dodd released a "discussion draft" of his regulatory reform bill. It garnered weak support among his fellow Democrats and the Republicans blasted it.