“Senate Banking Committee” on The Daily Caller

The U.S. Senate Committee on Banking is probing Friday’s decision by Standard & Poor’s to downgrade America’s credit rating. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans said Wednesday that a new government agency designed to protect consumers from problems with mortgages, credit cards and other lenders has too much power. They also criticized it for participating in a federal-state effort to force mortgage servicers to change the way they foreclose on troubled homeowners. (more)

Late last week, 13 senators signed and sent a letter to Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke. The letter wasn’t about headline-dominating issues of interest rates, deficit reduction or extending the Bush tax cuts. The letter cautioned Chairman Bernanke about action he and his fellow Federal Reserve Board of Governors are scheduled to take this week — which, if not done properly, will have a troubling impact on the wallets of millions of consumers across the nation. (more)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republicans will reopen the broad Wall Street reform law and overhaul the newly created consumer protection bureau if they regain control of Congress after the November elections, a leading lawmaker said on Monday. (more)

On Thursday the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) announced the federal budget deficit for 2010 will exceed $1.3 trillion. This is already on the heels of a 2009 budget deficit of $1.2 trillion and on top of a national debt of some $13.3 trillion. The word ‘trillion’ seems to have, almost overnight, crept into our standard economic parlance and by the looks of it is here to stay. And with the CBO’s forecast of more than $6 trillion in federal budget deficits accruing over the next nine years from 2010 to 2019, many are logically wondering if the United States has effectively crossed, or is fast approaching, a virtual economic point of no return — an economic Rubicon if you will. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) – A sweeping overhaul of the nation’s financial regulations stands on the verge of reaching President Barack Obama’s desk after a year of partisan struggles and delicate cross-party courtships that promised more and delivered less. (more)

U.S. senators or Senate employees received 30 loans—far more than had previously been known—under a controversial lending program at Countrywide Financial Corp. that provided cut-rate terms to favored borrowers. (more)

Topics – House Reforms, Derivatives Clarified, Treasury Profits, SEC Limits Political Contributions, Former SEC Leaders Advise Hedge Funds, AIG’s Dear Prudence, and Stocks Continue to Drop (more)

“Re·cid·i·vism [ri-ˈsi-də-ˌvi-zəm] noun: a tendency to relapse into a previous condition or mode of behavior; especially: relapse into criminal behavior.”—Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary (more)

Sen. Richard Shelby, Alabama Republican and the ranking Republican member of the Senate Banking Committee, gave a final speech on the Senate floor Thursday in advance of the final vote to pass a financial regulation bill, which passed later in the evening. (more)

The Senate Thursday evening passed a landmark financial regulation bill that Democrats said would prevent future taxpayer-funded bailouts of large Wall Street firms, but which Republicans said was a rushed and overbearing measure that could do more harm than good. The Senate passed the bill on a 59-39 vote, with four Republicans joining Democrats in voting for it and two Democrats voting against it. The bill will give the federal government new powers to take over failing financial institutions and unwind them, require complicated derivative trading to be routed through a central clearinghouse, and create a massive new consumer protection agency. The bill will now go to a conference committee so that it can be reconciled with a version passed by the House last fall. Democrats want to get the bill to President Obama’s desk by July 4. Democrats hailed the legislation. “It means that we’re finally going to put an end to the whole notion of ‘too big to fail.’ You’re never going to have to hear about taxpayers bailing out Wall Street,” said Sen. Mark Warner, Virginia Democrat, who was a key player in crafting the bill. Obama made a simple and firm promise: “There will be no more taxpayer-funded bailouts — period.” But Republicans slammed the bill for doing nothing to fix the problem of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government-owned failed mortgage giants who have cost taxpayers $145 billion and are poised to hemorrhage hundreds of billions more over the next few years. Sen. Richard Shelby, the ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, asked how the Senate could pass legislation on a topic so complex when the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, created by Congress to determine the causes of the 2008 financial crisis and near-meltdown, has just recently only begun its work and is nowhere near to delivering a final report. “This represents a fundamental failure of this body to do its own due diligence before we even attempt such a significant undertaking,” said Shelby, an Alabama Republican. “The American people expect more, and certainly deserved more from us.” The GOP also said the government’s takeover authority would privilege large financial institutions over smaller one and still leave risk of bailouts in such a way that Wall Street is incentivized toward greater risk-taking instead of less, that derivatives regulations would be overly burdensome and drive trading overseas, and that the consumer agency would be a huge and unnecessary bureaucracy that could end up intruding into every day American commerce. Sen. Lamar Alexander, Tennessee Republican, said the measure was “supposed to rein in Wall Street, but instead is just another Washington takeover – this time of Main Street.” Shelby said that “behind the veil of anti-Wall Street rhetoric is an unrelenting desire to manage every facet of commerce under the guise of consumer protection.” The president and Democrats framed the bill as a victory for the American people over the concerted efforts of Wall Street bankers and Republicans who stood against reform. “President Obama, Congressional Democrats and the American people achieved a victory … despite weeks of Republican attempts to weaken or delay the bill’s passage,” said Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine.  (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans on Wednesday delayed final action on a sweeping financial regulation bill, raising a last-minute obstacle to the legislation as it approached the home stretch. (more)

U.S. markets up: The markets closed up on Monday, based largely on positive developments in Europe. The Dow was up almost 4 percent and the S&P 500 up 4.5  percent and the Nasdaq closed up almost 5 percent. (more)

A tax even a Republican can like: A hot topic in certain circles is the possibility of the federal government enacting a “value-added tax,” or VAT, as one solution to America’s fiscal mess. Basically, a VAT is a more easily enforced (and collected) retail sales tax. Democrats tend to love it and Republicans tend to hate it, because it adds revenue to fund more federal programs. Paul Volcker, head of President Obama’s economic advisory board, said a VAT was “not as toxic an idea” as it used to be. In April, Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, offered a “sense of the Senate” resolution expressing opposition to a VAT, which passed in the Senate by an 85 to 13 vote. So it interesting that five Republican House members are co-sponsoring a bill by Rep. Pascrell, New Jersey Democrat, that would impose a VAT on imports from countries that use the tax. In the Senate, Republican Senator Voinovich, Ohio Republican — who was the sole Republican vote in opposition to that sense of the Senate resolution — now has suggested that replacing income taxes with a VAT could be one way to streamline the tax code. (more)

The 17^th century philosopher Blaise Pascal posited that it was safer to believe in a supreme being than to disavow one. In what came to be known as Pascal’s Wager, the Frenchman asserted that if one’s conviction in a deity proved incorrect, the end result was much superior than if one eschewed belief and was mistaken. In other words, “Better safe than sorry.” (more)

Financial reform: the first vote – Reuters reports that Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) broke with party ranks on Monday and voted against opening Senate debate on a financial reform bill. Nelson’s action means that the Democrats lack the votes to go forward and that the bill will be blocked, at least for now. Democrats must pickup at least two Republicans to prevail and clear the way for consideration of the bill. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said Monday morning the Republicans had the 41 votes they needed to stop Democrats from beginning debate on the Senate floor on a bill to overhaul financial regulation, but he suggested it was unclear how long the GOP unity would last.“I believe that 41 Republicans – for right now – are going to stand together. I wish we’d stand together, period.” Republicans know that there is a significant political price to pay for opposing financial reform; even if the opposition may be well intentioned. According to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll out Monday, 65% of adults surveyed nationwide said they support regulatory reform, while 31 percent oppose it. Sixty-nine percent said in the poll that they support “increasing federal oversight of the way banks and other financial companies make consumer loans, such as mortgages and auto loans, and issue credit cards.” (more)

NEW YORK – President Barack Obama rebuked Wall Street for risky practices Thursday even as he sought its leaders’ help for “updated, commonsense” banking regulations to head off any new financial crisis. (more)

GM proudly reported on Wednesday that General Motors Co. repaid $5.8 billion to the U.S. Treasury and Export Development Canada. GM Chief Executive Ed Whitacre wrote in the Wall Street Journal that the company is paying back the loans “in full, with interest, years ahead of schedule.” Whitacre said no one — neither taxpayers nor the company itself — was happy that GM needed government loans. “We believe we can best thank the citizens of the U.S. and Canada by making sure that their investments are hard at work every day, building high-quality, fuel-efficient vehicles our customers can count on,” Whitacre wrote. (more)

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) emerged from a meeting with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner on Monday to announce she would join a GOP filibuster of Wall Street reform. (more)

It’s the year 2051 and an American history professor by the name of Robot Avatar at the orbiting campus of Space Cadet University is “wiring” his students about the 50^th anniversary of George W. Bush’s presidency. (more)