The Obama administration is aiming for spring passage of financial regulatory reform legislation, and despite the partisan nature of the last big domestic policy push of health care reform, officials believe they will be able to attract Republicans.
Treasury Department officials and Congressional Democrats putting the finishing touches on legislation the Senate will consider in the coming weeks stressed in briefings and interviews that Republican ideas are peppered throughout the legislation and should attract wide support.
Neal Wolin, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, told reporters in a briefing at the White House this week that outside groups are focusing too much on the differences between the Senate proposal and what passed the House last year, and on any split between the Republicans and Democrats. He said the administration is looking that the wide areas where there is strong agreement, and stressed that Banking Committee Chairman Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) included many Republican ideas in the bill by working with Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL). (Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) has said financial reform is an issue “every American” wants to see passed.)
Corker also said it doesn’t look like the GOP will be able to come even close to a filibuster on this issue.
“There is a surprisingly high level of overlap and agreement on this legislation,” Wolin said. “We think this is picking up momentum and there is a very impressive amount of convergence” between the parties, he said.
Michael Barr, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Institutions, said at the briefing the strongest element of the legislation is ending “too big to fail” and making sure that taxpayers won’t ever again be on the hook for Wall Street.
“The bills are close enough, this shouldn’t be hard,” Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the Financial Services committee, told me in an interview recently. He said he expects Obama to sign the measure before Memorial Day.
On Wednesday the treasury officials declined to play what they called the “timing game” but Democrats have said they believe this can be done by the summer. Asked by reporters about Memorial Day, Diana Farrell, Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, offered: “Is it feasible? Yes, it’s feasible.”
The officials said Frank’s bill, which passed the House Dec. 11, is “very strong” and substantially overlaps what the administration wants passed. From a political standpoint, administration officials believe Republicans will have a tough time opposing the bill because they will be painted as pro-Wall Street right before the midterm Congressional elections this fall.
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