Dems Plan To Toughen Wall Street Reform Bill On Senate Floor
Huffington Post – If Senate leadership can overcome a Republican filibuster and begin debate on Wall Street reform, a group of Democratic senators will be ready with amendments to strengthen the bill on the floor, testing just how far centrist and conservative Democrats are willing to go to rein in the financial industry.
Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Ted Kaufman will be pushing for an amendment curtailing the activity of the biggest banks and breaking many of them up. The amendment would limit the size of a bank's total assets to two percent of GDP and cap the insured deposits that one institution could control at ten percent of the aggregate.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), possibly with GOP cosponsors, has an amendment that would open the Federal Reserve up to a real audit. The current language keeps much Fed activity in the dark.
Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) has committed to introducing an amendment to create an independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency, rather than one housed within the Fed or another regulator.
