Tennessee Senator Bob Corker has been working for months to get a bipartisan agreement on strengthening financial regulations. He says recent developments give him both hope and pause.
Corker is spending hours each week working with Democrats on new banking regulations. He says pressure to rush a bill through was taken off because Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd announced his retirement. Dodd faced a tough re-election and many feared he would use the committee to campaign. But Corker says he’s worried the White House has turned to populism – like its new plan to limit the size of financial companies.
“I guess I’m beginning to get a little concerned with all these announcements coming from the White House. It’s beginning to get a little politicized.”
Chairman Dodd split up the heavy lifting on financial reform into four bi-partisan groups. Corker is working on the so called “too big to fail” portion.
Details are still being worked out, but Corker’s group is leaning towards having a bankruptcy judge wind down failing banks, rather than a government agency. Corker’s group is making more headway than the others, but the senator doesn’t know when the legislation will be completed.
Reported by Matt Laslo
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