Geithner Calls Meeting on Banking Rules as Action Heats Up

A lot of action is expected this week in the Senate – and in the Obama administration – over the White House’s push for new financial rules. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.) told reporters Monday he hopes to bring a bill to his committee in a matter of “days.”

Here’s an update of news on the financial overhaul:

1) Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Thursday has called a meeting with some of the country’s top business and financial trade groups – including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Bankers Association, the Independent Community Bankers of America, the Financial Services Roundtable, and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. The meeting is supposed to focus a lot on the financial overhaul plan.

2) Senate lawmakers are back after the President’s Day recess. Here’s some outtakes from a few caught in the hallway Monday.

• a. Mr. Dodd: “I feel will have a good chance to produce a bipartisan bill soon, and I know you all want to know dates and times exactly, and obviously I don’t know that…We’re not running out of time. Eventually you have to put something together and go forward. I want people to be comfortable with the product to the extent they can be, but I’m very optimistic we can get a bill. A good bill…We’re talking about everything in the bill, of course we are…I think if we can come out of committee with a bipartisan bill, the chances on the floor increase dramatically, and I believe we have a very good chance of doing that.”
• b. Sen. Richard Shelby (R., Ala.): “Conceptually, we’re probably very close together on all the main issues…The big difference is an independent free standing consumer financial (agency). I’ve always said it should be with the prudential regulator because safety and soundness is so important, otherwise you are going to have cross-purposes there…Our staffs have been talking and we’ll see later this week if we’re moving closer together or we’re moving further apart. I hope we are moving closer together…We will produce at a markup an alternative to whatever is there, unless we work out something.”
• c. Sen. Judd Gregg (R., N.H.): “I’ve been focused pretty much entirely on the issue of derivatives, and Jack Reed and I continue to work in a very constructive way on that issue. I can’t speak for the other issues as a whole.” When asked about progress on the derivatives piece, he responded, “I don’t want to characterize it, but we’re making constructive and I think positive progress.”
• d. Sen. Jim Bunning (R., Ky.) was asked his thoughts about Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) breaking ranks with Republicans and working with Mr. Dodd on a potential bipartisan compromise. His response: “I don’t have a thought about Bob Corker. Not one thought.”