Left angry with Chris Dodd on regulatory reform

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Even before a deal is finalized, some on the left are teeing off on Senate Banking Chairman Chris Dodd’s latest consumer protection proposal.

Dodd is taking Senate Democrats’ pulse on a potential deal with Republicans to create a consumer watchdog within the Federal Reserve, a measure that falls short of the stand-alone independent agency championed as the centerpiece of financial reform by many on the left.

“The Fed had the broadest rulemaking authority of anybody in the government and they yet let that authority sit on the shelf while consumer lending practices were going to hell in a hand-basket,” Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.), a leading proponent of the stand-alone Consumer Financial Protection Agency, said in an interview. “So I think there is justified skepticism about giving the authority to the Fed.”

More broadly, based on the outlines of other proposals that circulated in recent days, Miller said he is worried about the lack of power the consumer entity would be given in the Senate bill, not just where it’s located. The Senate appears poised to give banking regulators a veto over the consumer entity’s rules and strip it of any real enforcement power.

“And it’s not even clear that those very significant gives are going to lead to Republican support,” Miller said. Compromise is necessary, he continued, “but there comes a time when no bill is better than a bill that does next to nothing, and we may be getting to that point.”

Arianna Huffington, founder of the left-leaning news site the Huffingon Post, excoriated Dodd in a column Tuesday morning for giving in to Republican demands rather than take the fight to the floor, as some Democrats privately say they think Dodd should.

“[H]how about at least trying before waving the white flag?” she demanded. “Instead, Dodd, in the hope of attracting Republican votes, appears to have preemptively surrendered. But there's no evidence that Dodd's concession has achieved anything other than kneecapping the bill. Democrats have mastered the art of negotiating against themselves.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/...l#ixzz0h2UlyJHG

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

So he's compromising and the moonbats are angry?

[The_Dude 1,142]

So he's compromising and the moonbats are angry?

No, he sold the bill out so that he can get it passed before he leaves office. If the bill gets out of committee, several senators have indicated that they would bring a floor battle to pass it. Most likely, it will get an amendment attached to it that would make this proposed watchdog agency independent rather than a part of the Federal Reserve.

[Pooky 3,787]

No, he sold the bill out so that he can get it passed before he leaves office. If the bill gets out of committee, several senators have indicated that they would bring a floor battle to pass it. Most likely, it will get an amendment attached to it that would make this proposed watchdog agency independent rather than a part of the Federal Reserve.

A case of "Who Watches the Watchmen" ?

Edited March 3, 2010 by Pooky