Senate banking committee chairman Christopher Dodd is set to introduce banking reform legislation Monday without Republican support, in part due to pressure from the Obama administration. The latest version of his legislation is said to adhere more closely to the White House’s initial proposal. He is scheduled to hold a press conference announcing the specifics of his bill at 2pm EST.
On Friday, the 10 Republicans on the Senate banking committee sent a letter to Dodd, exhorting him to wait until after Easter recess to introduce his bill.
Dodd does not seem inclined to wait, however, telling the Wall Street Journal in an interview over the weekend: “The idea we can somehow delay this to some later date is just totally unrealistic and wrong, because the American public rightly deserves answers to how we can address this set of problems.” Dodd was apparently under pressure from the Obama administration to go ahead with his reform bill. “With Mr. Dodd intent on moving quickly, the banking industry will have limited time to try to shape the bill,” the WSJ story says.
Dodd gave a preview of the latest version of the bill to WSJ. Among other things, it includes the Volcker rule, according to blogger ZeroHedge, which would bar big commercial banks from making speculative investments in stocks and derivatives and prohibit them from owning hedge or private equity funds. According to the WSJ article, the bill would also “allow the Fed to examine any bank-holding company with more than $50 billion in assets, and large financial companies that aren't banks could be lassoed into the Fed's supervisory orbit. This came after Treasury officials pushed Mr. Dodd to bring more companies under the Fed's purview.”
Mr. Dodd told the WSJ he hopes he can begin voting in committee as early as next week, with legislation introduced to the senate floor by late April.