Bill Drops Fund to Shut Failed Banks
New York Times – WASHINGTON — Leaders of the Senate Banking Committee said Tuesday that they had reached an agreement to limit the likelihood that big banks would be bailed out by taxpayers. But liberal Democrats said they also would push aggressively for an array of proposals that could force some of the nation’s biggest banks to reduce their size.
The tentative agreement to limit the chances of future bailouts came as the Senate delayed for another day its initial votes on amendments to legislation to address the causes of the 2008 financial crisis.
Aides to the committee chairman, Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, and the panel’s senior Republican, Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, said the two senators had agreed to scuttle a $50 billion fund proposed by Democrats.
The fund, which was opposed by the Obama administration, drew criticism from Republicans who had warned that it would promote rather than prevent taxpayer bailouts of failed financial companies.
