Read @ The Hill

Democrats on Wednesday made financial reform their new top domestic priority, vowing to enact an overhaul of Wall Street this year and warning opponents not to stand in the way.

President Barack Obama is looking to Congress to pass a regulatory bill in the next few months, and key congressional Democrats said they are emboldened to act following the passage of healthcare legislation on Sunday night.

Republicans who voted unanimously against healthcare reform will suffer the political consequences using the same strategy on Wall Street reform, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) told The Hill on Wednesday.

“My hope is that they’ll want to talk about solutions,” Dodd said. “Or they can just sit there and explain to people why they want to side with the largest financial institutions ... If they want to reject this bill for whatever false reasons they come up with, they’ll have to bear the responsibility of having it happen again when they were given a chance to correct it.

“So we’ll see how they respond, and I hope they don’t make the same mistake they made on healthcare,” Dodd concluded.

Obama held a White House meeting Wednesday with Dodd and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), as top Treasury Department officials this week fanned out across Washington to stump for reforms.

Neal Wolin, deputy Treasury secretary, went to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s summit on the financial industry and repeatedly slammed the association for lobbying against administration-backed reforms.

“Despite the urgent and undeniable need for reform, the Chamber of Commerce has launched a $3 million advertising campaign against it,” Wolin said Wednesday. “That campaign is not designed to improve the House and Senate bills. It is designed to defeat them. It is designed to delay reform until the memory of the crisis fades and the political will for change dies out.”

Bruce Josten, the Chamber’s senior lobbyist, described Wolin’s speech as “political grandstanding” and insisted the business lobby is committed to a bipartisan effort.

Republicans recognize Democrats have new momentum to push financial legislation through Congress and expressed concern about having limited power to shape or,  if necessary, defeat it.

Continues @ The Hill

"

===========================

All I can say is "What took you so long!"  Hurry up already.

I hope they put real curbs on fake assets and put in mega reporting requirements.

Hillary Clinton would have addressed this right off the bat..  I hope you recall Hillary's appearance on CNBC in 2008.  It was so good..   I am sure I have it saved some place.
She was so articulate on the macro economic, banking and fake asset related issues.  She  is the best. I hope these Reps get it correct.