WASHINGTON — First thing's first, House Financial Services Committee member–and chairman hopeful–Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) said of a committee agenda for the 110th Congress. "Nov. 7 is the election. I'd rather deal with the things we know we have to and then on Nov. 7," he said, "then we start worrying about [the chairmanship]. I'm concerned about the majority." Regardless of who is the next committee chairman, Bachus sees data security as one of the most urgent issues. "I spoke to credit unions in my own state, two of them had to reissue–one 15,000 credit cards and one 5,000," he explained. The members are wondering what went wrong, but the credit unions did nothing wrong. This year the Financial Services and Energy & Commerce committees had a turf battle over the matter and none of the handful of bills introduced made much progress. "I can't say why the parties haven't gotten together," Bachus added, though he admitted he was not closely involved with those negotiations.

Regulatory relief, however, is a key focus for Bachus. He said that under his chairmanship, regulatory relief would be revisited, including items found in CURIA. "There are some things that both the banks and the credit unions want…We're going to keep doing it and I think we'll work closer with the Senate this time hopefully on better communication," he said.

Bachus also said a predatory lending bill could be introduced as early as next week, including a provision on the suitability of the loan to the borrower. "We're probably 98% of the way there," he said. –[email protected]