Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said today lawmakers are on a "positive and optimistic track," in trying to reach an agreement on regulatory restructuring, but declined to discuss specifics of the bill he will introduce on Monday.
Dodd (D-Conn.) said at a Capitol Hill news conference that lawmakers "are not there yet," on the measure's provisions regarding consumer regulation. He declined to address specifics, such as the comment made two hours earlier by Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) that there had essentially been an agreement to house the new regulator in the Federal Reserve.
Dodd said he planned to continue working with Corker and other committee members to reach consensus. He added that he hoped to have "broad support," for the legislation, across party lines but didn't expect unanimous backing.
He said that he planned to unveil the bill even though negotiations aren't complete because "the moment has arrived," to do so and because it will help to expedite the legislative process if lawmakers and other interested parties have a document they can discuss and critique.
Dodd said he hopes the Senate will pass the legislation later this spring. After that, it must reconcile its version with the bill passed by the House last year. That bill created a Consumer Financial Protection Agency as an independent agency.
