–Senate Majority Leader Scorches GOP For Delay, Obstruction
–Dems Seek ‘Decent Restrictions on Wall Street’
–Senate Been ‘Held Up’ On Bill For ‘Couple of Weeks’
–Sen. Dodd: Now Sees Afternoon Vote On Amendment To End Too Big To Fail

By John Shaw

WASHINGTON (MNI) – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid continued to
hammer Republicans Wednesday for blocking Senate votes on amendments to
the financial regulatory reform bill.

At a briefing, Reid expanded and intensified criticisms of Senate
Republicans that he offered several hours ago on the floor of the
Senate.

“They won’t let us deal with any amendments,” Reid said.

“We’ve been held up on this Wall Street bill for a couple of
weeks,” he added.

Moments after Reid spoke, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris
Dodd said the Senate will cast its first votes on amendments to the
financial regulatory reform bill later in the afternoon.

Earlier in the day, Dodd said he expected the Senate to vote around
11:30 a.m. on an amendment by Democratic senator Barbara Boxer that
would prohibit the use of taxpayer funds to bail out financial firms in
the future.

Dodd added that he expected a Senate vote on a second amendment
around 12:30 p.m. by himself and Sen. Richard Shelby, the ranking
Republican on the Banking Committee.

Dodd said the Dodd-Shelby amendment will clarify a process to
liquidate large failing financial institutions. It is expected to strike
language which would have created a $50 billion resolution fund to cover
the cost of winding down collapsing financial firms.

Reid has said he’s determined the Senate will complete action on
regulatory reform legislation by next week.

For the second day in a row, Reid dodged a question about whether
he will support an amendment by Independent senator Bernie Sanders to
expand the Government Accountability Office’s power to audit the Federal
Reserve Board.

Reid said he has not carefully reviewed the language of the Sanders
amendment.

The underlying Senate bill establishes a new independent Consumer
Protection Bureau at the Federal Reserve Board, creates a process to
liquidate failed financial firms, sets up a council of regulators to
oversee systemic risk in the economy, establishes a regulatory structure
for over-the-counter derivatives, requires hedge funds that manage over
$100 million to register with the SEC and creates a new office within
Treasury to monitor the insurance industry.

Dodd’s bill has been merged with a package that was approved by the
Senate Agriculture Committee which requires OTC markets to adopt aspects
of the regulated markets such as mandatory clearing through derivatives
clearing organizations and trading on exchanges or exchange-like
facilities.

It has a narrow exemption for commercial “end users” who use
derivatives to hedge against economic contingencies such as fluctuations
in fuel prices, currency and interest rates.

The most controversial features of the package is a provision that
requires a bank that qualifies as a “swap dealer” or a “major swap
participant” to either divest its swap desk or forego access to federal
credit assistance such as the Federal Reserve Board’s discount window of
FDIC deposit insurance.

Senate Republicans have also said they will offer amendments to
alter the proposed consumer protection entity created by the Dodd bill.
If the Senate passes a financial regulatory reform bill, it must be
reconciled with a competing version that was approved by the House in
December.

President Obama has said he would like to sign a bill into law by
September.

** Market News International Washington Bureau: (202) 371-2121 **

[TOPICS: M$U$$$,MFU$$$,MCU$$$]