WaPo article link dated yesterday, article dated today:
By David Cho and Brady Dennis
Washington Post Staff Writer
The Obama administration is no longer insisting on the creation of a stand-alone consumer protection agency as a central element of the plan to remake regulation of the financial system.
In hopes of quick congressional approval of a reform bill, White House officials are opening the door to compromise with lawmakers concerned about creating a new bureaucracy, according to congressional and some administration sources.
President Obama's economic team is now open to housing the consumer regulator inside another agency, such as the Treasury Department, though they still prefer a stand-alone agency. In either case, they are insisting on a regulator with political autonomy and real teeth so it can effectively enforce rules designed to protect consumers of mortgages, credit cards and other financial products.
The administration may also have to compromise on Obama's recent proposal for a rule to limit risky activities at banks by prohibiting them from engaging in many kinds of speculative investments.
Treasury officials are preparing to send Capitol Hill a toughly worded measure that would bar banks from making certain investments that benefit only the firms' bottom line rather than their customers. But there is little support among either Democratic or Republican lawmakers for this proposal, known as the "Volcker rule," and Senate leaders are now closing ranks around legislation that would leave it to banking regulators, rather than the law, to decide which activities to ban.
moreNot a single quote in that speculative WaPo piece.
Yesterday, NYT:
February 24, 2010, 2:07 am
The Obama administration redoubled its efforts on Tuesday to overhaul the nation’s financial regulations, saying it would not back down from its efforts to restrict the trading activities of banks and to create a consumer agency to regulate financial products, Sewell Chan reports in The New York Times.
In an attempt to thwart fierce lobbying against those measures, among others, the Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, summoned leaders of the United States Chamber of Commerce, the American Bankers Association, the Financial Services Forum and other groups to a meeting on Thursday to urge them not to obstruct the legislative effort.
The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Christopher J. Dodd, who is drafting a new version of the regulatory overhaul, met again on Tuesday with Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, in the hope of arriving at a bipartisan measure.
Other provisions in contention include whom to exempt from new regulations governing the market for over-the-counter derivatives and how to dissolve financial companies before they pose systemic risk to the economy.
moreQuote, albeit anonymous, NYT today:
February 25, 2010, 2:26 am
As part of an effort to save a financial regulation bill, the Obama administration is prepared to agree that an existing agency, rather than a new agency, could take responsibility for consumer protections as long as the regulators have substantive powers, Sewell Chan reports in The New York Times.
“We think an independent consumer regulator, with rule-making and enforcement powers, is critical, and our position hasn’t changed one iota,” an administration official said late Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid disrupting negotiations over the bill.The official said the Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, was committed to such a proposal.
Mr. Geithner met with two senators leading the negotiations, Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, the chairman of the Banking Committee and Senator Bob Corker, a Republican of Tennessee and a committee member, on Wednesday night in a last-ditch effort to arrive at a bipartisan bill.
moreYet the title doesn't match the quote.
Posted early this morning at WaPo:
Our left-leaning Readers Who Comment are furious this morning to read that the Obama Administration could compromise on its proposal for a new independent consumer protection agency and instead place it within an existing federal department.
Several readers compare this with Obama's abandonment of the so-called public option in the health care reform debate and ask themselves why they voted for him. It's the strongest anti-Obama string from the left I have seen in almost three years of reviewing comments.
It's not a done deal. Negotiations with Congress continue. But as David Cho and Brady Dennis write, Obama's "economic team is now open to housing the consumer regulator inside another agency, such as the Treasury Department, though they still prefer a stand-alone agency. In either case, they are insisting on a regulator with political autonomy and real teeth..." Those who comment clearly don't think that's likely if the agency is created within an existing structure.
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IGiveup1 wrote, "Obama has found one more way to suck up to some anonymous critic of his policies. This is so unexpected. I keep telling myself that at least he's better than McCain/Palin, but the results are indistinguishable. Convincing myself is getting harder by the day."
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