On the Hill

Dodd Unveils Financial-Reform Bill

Without any Republican support.

Not to be drowned out in the health-care noise: Senator Chris Dodd unveiled the Senate Democrats’ plan for financial-regulation reform on Monday. No Republican senators have endorsed the legislation, but it also falls short of the ambitious goals that President Obama has set. It would create a consumer-protection agency as part of the Federal Reserve, a move that leaves neither conservatives nor liberals happy: Republicans want to weaken the agency’s power, while liberals want to give it more power by creating a standalone agency. Still, the Associated Press calls it “the biggest overhaul of regulations since the New Deal.” It contains a version of the "Volcker Rule"—what Reuters calls "rules to prohibit proprietary trading at banks, and banks' investment in hedge funds and private-equity funds."