Officials said regulatory changes would be aimed at giving U.S. investors more foreign stocks to chose from, as well, The New York Times reported Saturday.

Some opponents say the proposed alterations seem to be a last-minute effort by the Bush administration to weaken security regulations adopted after the fall of several large companies, including Enron.

Many rules were passed to hinder accounting scams and corruption that cause corporations to fail, the newspaper said.

Some law experts and lawmakers say they fear alterations would leave U.S. investors vulnerable to foreign regulators who enact less strict measures and could view investment failures as having little importance.