Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) spoke with the Wall Street Journal about the bill Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.) plans to introduce Monday to overhaul financial market regulation. Messrs. Corker and Dodd tried to strike a bipartisan compromise on the package until Mr. Dodd abruptly said last week they likely wouldnt be able to introduce a joint bill because of time constraints.
WSJ: Whats happened in the last 48 hours?
Sen. Corker: There was no question in my mind that when things were as they were Thursday, that [Sen. Dodd] was going to move to the left with the bill to make sure that at least in committee he had almost all the Democrats. He obviously didnt want to find himself jammed in committee which would have been very embarrassing
If he continued talking to me and moving over to the mdde of the road, he was losing Democrats
Theres no question that Treasury is pushing left, and thats what I would expect at this point. Hopefully we can have some amendments passed in committee to move it back in the middle of the road. We woke up on Friday moring, dusted ourselves off and are back at it. Our staff has been engaged
Weve noticed throughout the weekend Treasurys impact on the bill has moved it away from where we had been, no question.
It would be my guess that enforcement has probably taken on a different sort of place in the consumer side.
At least the starting point is going to be much better this time. At least the bill will be amendmable this time. It will be in a place where you can make amendments. Its still my goal to keep working in committee, we may not get there in committee because his time frame is so short
I hope we can get a bipartisan bill out of committee, but the timeframe is awfully short for that kind of thing to occur
WSJ: Given the political climate, is a deal still possible?
Sen. Corker: I dont think theres any qetison that Sen. Dodd wants a bipartisan bill. I dont think thers any question, hopefully, in anybodys mind that Id like to see a bipartisan bill. I think Mark Warner would like to see one. I think Judd Gregg would like to see one. I think Richard Shelby would like to see one
If on the consumer piece, we cant get to where theres an appropriate relationship between the prudential regulator and new consumer agency, thats obviously going to be problematic
Theres a lot of things that we havent even talked about that are important aspects of the bill. If you really look at what created our financial issues, there were a lot of loans made that couldnt be paid back. The underwriting was terrible, and if we dont address that somehow, which was the core issue in the beginning, we havent done a whole lot. Hopefully we will.
I continue to be very optimistic. One of the good things thats happened since Thursday, one of the positive outcomes has been just the level of engagement now among lots of people.
Where do you think the bill will be with respect to the Volcker Rule?
Sen. Corker: I would bet, especially with the high level of Treasury involvement that weve seen over the weekend and that fact that they actually issued language a week and a half ago, I would be surprised if the Volcker Rule is not strongly addressed, pretty strongly addressed int eh text that comes out on Monday.
WSJ: Will you offer amendments in the committee?
Sen. Corker: I know generally speaking that he bill is going to move to the left of where we had stopped. Im going to offer amendments to try to get it back in the middle of the road and do so in a constructive way so we can get to place where we can hopefully get to an 80 vote bill. I dont view that as anything but positive.