Senate rejects Republican consumer protection plan

[babylonsister]

Senate rejects Republican consumer protection plan

By JIM KUHNHENN


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Democrats, prodded by President Barack Obama, rejected a Republican consumer protection plan that would have diluted a central element of the administration's financial regulation package.

The vote cleared one of the sharpest partisan disputes over a sweeping overhaul of financial regulations.

Democrats and the president argued that the GOP proposal would have "gutted" consumer protections. The vote was 61-38, with two Republicans - Sens. Olympia Snowe of Maine and Charles Grassley of Iowa - joining Democrats to defeat the GOP measure.

Following last-minute adjustments, a separate proposal to audit the Federal Reserve that the Obama administration once opposed was attracting broad support from conservatives and liberals alike. The Senate was expected to vote on that measure next week.

Momentum for the audit grew after the Obama administration withdrew its earlier opposition to the proposal on Thursday, saying it was satisfied that the audit would not interfere with the Fed's authority to set monetary policy.

more...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_FINANCIAL_OVERHAUL?SITE=CONGRA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[AllyCat]

1. Wow. this is good news. Hope there is a lot more good stuff to come

[Cha]

2. Excellent news...I saw a couple of threads

on the big bad Feds not wanting an audit.. I figured they had a reason.

"Momentum for the audit grew after the Obama administration withdrew its earlier opposition to the proposal on Thursday, saying it was satisfied that the audit would not interfere with the Fed's authority to set monetary policy."

[high density]

3. Multiple pieces of good news in one article

Sounds great.