Dodd puts financial reform on the line

WASHINGTON, March 15 (UPI) -- Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., unveiled his 1,336 page regulatory reform bill Monday, saying it included Republican input.

The bill "reflects an awful lot of work that has gone on between Democrats and Republicans on this committee," Dodd said, The New York Times reported.

The bill seeks to create a consumer protection agency as an autonomous program housed at the Federal Reserve -- although a council of regulators can vote to reject some of its rulings.

The bill also reins in risk-taking by banks and establishes a system for the government to take over financial firms, not just banks, deemed so large their collapse would ripple through the financial system.

President Barack Obama said the bill "provides a strong foundation to build a stronger financial system."

Obama said he would not accept a bill without an independent consumer protection agency that had authority over banks, credit card companies, debt collectors and payday lenders.

Sheila Bair, chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., a Republican, said the bill "will ensure that large financial institutions face the same resolution process as small banks and eliminates the possibility of future government bailouts."

Elizabeth Warren, chairwoman of the Congressional Oversight Panel, charged by Congress with monitoring the $700 billion bank bailout program established in 2008, said "we are now heading toward a series of votes in which the choice will be clear: Families or banks."