Fourth of July Wall Street Reform

House and Senate have finally agreed on financial reforms and have come up with a bill that is expected to be on Obama's desk by the Fourth of July:

Congress early Friday moved to the brink of passing a landmark overhaul of Wall Street, which would hand President Barack Obama a major victory ahead of the midterm elections.

A 43-member conference of House and Senate lawmakers finished the bill just after 5:30 a.m., after a marathon, all-night session of dealmaking, lobbying and scores of votes. The 2,000-page bill aims to prevent taxpayer-funded bailouts and revamp regulation of mortgages, credit cards, broad financial system risks and the $600 trillion derivatives market.
....
Frank, chairman of the conference committee, said the bill was tougher in the end than he once thought was possible to pass through Congress.

"You hate to have the kind of pain people had during the crisis, but it redoubled our resolve," Frank said. "We have done something that has been badly needed and sorely needed for some time," Dodd said.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the bill, "represents the most sweeping set of financial reforms since those that followed the Great Depression."
Read more at The HIll

Reid: Climate Legislation First But Immigration Reform This Year

The democrats just held a press conference urging republicans to vote to move the Wall Street reforms legislation to the floor, where amendments can be debated. I wish someone in the media would explain WHY the republicans are blocking debate. It doesn't make any sense.
Harry Reid says climate legislation will get done first because it's ready to go. BUT, immigration reform can also get done this year, he said. The immigration reform issue is another example of how the media pitted one against the other.
I'll post video if it comes available.

Republicans Block Wall Street Reform Bill

Senate Republicans on Monday blocked a Democratic effort to overhaul the financial system and crack down on Wall Street.

One Senate Democrat, Sen. Ben Nelson (Neb.), joined 40 Republicans in voting against the bill. Nelson had been pushing for a provision backed by Warren Buffett that would have largely exempted existing derivatives contracts from the bill's new rules.

Democrats seized on the party-line, 57-41 test vote to portray Republicans as standing up for Wall Street banks that helped push the economy into the worst recession since the Great Depression. The Hill

Republicans blocked the democrats in moving the bill to the floor for debate. But no doubt, the bill is still getting done. Richard Shelby and Chris Dodd, who are working on the bill say so. These are just political games. This was expected, given that the republicans are the party of no. It just means that there probably will be further negotiations on the bill, something that the democrats were opposed to. Now the democrats can say that republicans stand with Wall Street and republicans can say the bill wasn't good enough for them. All fun and games, puffery and foolery if you ask me. Obama's tweet:

I am deeply disappointed that Senate Republicans voted in a block today against allowing a public debate on Wall Street reform to begin.

John Harwood has it right:

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Dodd and Shelby on Meet the Press April 24

Chris Dodd and Richard Shelby were getting on so well, David Gregory didn't know what to do with himself. The bottom line is financial reform legislation is coming and it's coming soon.

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Most of the roundtable agrees that Arizona's new immigration law is a bad one and John McCain's shame:

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The roundtable on financial reforms and why I respect David Brooks:

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Obama Signs Health Bill March 23 Live Stream

Obama will sign the health bill in a ceremony in the East Room at 11:15 am eastern. At 12:05, Obama will remark on the health insurance at the Department of the Interior. You can watch both here. WhiteHouse.gov and CBSnews.com will also have live streams.

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In attendance at the signing via Politico:

Vice President Biden, Vicki Kennedy, Connie Anderson, Ryan Smith, Marcelas Owens, Secretary Sebelius, Senator Reid, Senator Durbin, Senator Baucus, Senator Harkin, Senator Dodd, Speaker Pelosi, Representative Hoyer, Representative Clyburn, Representative George Miller, Representative Waxman, Representative Levin, Representative Dingell. Other members of Congress who supported the bill also will be there.

Obama's Statement on Chris Dodd's Financial Reform Bill

Read about the bill here and here are the key provisions. All sides are spilling their guts. Who knows if it's good or bad. Obama calls it a strong foundation that can be strengthened. Obama's statement:

It has now been well over a year since the near collapse of the financial sector, and yet today the same failed system that brought on this crisis remains in place. The financial crisis has resulted in more than 8 million American workers losing their jobs, trillions in household wealth being wiped out and hundreds of thousands of small businesses without the credit they need to grow. We cannot wait any longer for real financial reform that brings accountability to the financial system and makes sure that the American taxpayer is never again asked to bail out the irresponsibility of our largest banks and financial institutions.

This proposal provides a strong foundation to build a safer financial system. It creates a new consumer financial protection agency to set and enforce clear rules of the road and establishes stronger supervision for the largest financial firms under the Federal Reserve. It brings transparency and oversight to derivatives and other financial markets that were central to the crisis and separates banking from proprietary trading and hedge funds. The proposal will also provide the government with essential tools to respond in a financial crisis, so that we can wind down and liquidate a large, interconnected failing financial firm. It allows us to protect the economy and taxpayers so that we can end the belief that any firm is "Too Big to Fail".

As the bill moves forward, I will take every opportunity to work with Chairman Dodd and his colleagues to strengthen the bill and will fight against efforts to weaken it.

American families deserve a strong, independent consumer financial protection agency that is accountable for setting and enforcing clear rules across the financial marketplace. And I will not accept attempts to undermine the independence of the consumer protection agency, or to exclude from its purview banks, credit card companies or nonbank firms such as debt collectors, credit bureaus, payday lenders or auto dealers.

I will oppose any loopholes that could harm consumers or investors, or that allow institutions to avoid oversight that is important to financial stability.

We need to ensure the ultimate bill provides strong, clear authority for setting and enforcing rules, limiting excessive risk taking in the financial system, and winding down the largest financial firms when necessary in a way that does not cause a financial panic. All derivatives must be regulated and shareholders should have a say not just on pay but also other compensation that rewards risk taking. We will stand firm against any attempt by the financial sector to avoid their responsibilities: in any future crisis the big financial companies must pay, not taxpayers.

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Q&A:

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Dodd to Release Financial Reform Bill March 15

Obama Speaks on the Passage of Senate Healthcare Bill Dec. 24

Mark Knoller's photo of Obama family on Marine One. Destination: Hawaii

Merry Christmas! Even to the wingnuts! You're going to love health care.
Seven presidents have tried and failed to pass healthcare. Watch Biden, who presided over the vote. Now, the House and Senate bills must be reconciled.

Obama called 12 senators and thanked them for their work on the bill, according to CBS' @markknoller. He also called Vicki Kennedy. Ted would be proud. He called David Turner, a man who had his healthcare taken away by his insurance company. Obama also called 10 soldiers overseas. Now, Obama and the First Family are off to Hawaii.

Transcript here.

Watch a glowing Harry Reid:

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Obama family ready to board Marine One:
Photos by CBS reporter Mark Knoller

Harry Reid Talks About Healthcare Vote Video

Harry Reid says he has the 60 votes. Obama will speak at about 1:30 pm eastern. It will be live streamed at msnbc.com and cnn.com. Bernie Sanders' amendment sounds good. It expands community health centers, which will help drive down costs.

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Republicans are very, very upset. Mitch McConnell: "this bill reshape our nation and our lives." Let's hope so! Republicans have no right to complain because they haven't helped one bit. They've only stood in the way, deciding early on to make this Obama's waterloo.

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Obama Rallies for Chris Dodd in Connecticut

Obama brings back the mop:

Obama Speaks at MIT Oct. 23

Updated with video
Obama will speak on clean energy at 12:30 pm eastern and then he's off to the races. At 2:45 pm eastern, he'll speak on behalf of Deval Patrick and at 6:45 pm he'll speak at a fundraising dinner for Chris Dodd. I'll post video when it's up. The events should be live streamed at cnn.com and whitehouse.gov. Also, you may want to check out whitehouse.gov at 12 pm eastern, when Michelle Obama speaks on breast cancer awareness.

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President Barack Obama is doing more than promoting clean energy with a tour of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He's pumping some energy of his own into the campaigns of New England allies facing tough re-election bids.

The president's politicking on Friday begins in Cambridge, Mass., with a quick "official" event at MIT to challenge the nation to lead the global economy in clean energy. That appearance significantly brings down the cost of flying the president to fundraisers designed to raise money for two politically anemic Democrats, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut.
Patrick, an Obama friend who faces re-election in 2010, has insisted for months he's not focused on re-election next year, but drops the pretense with two high-profile fundraisers. AP

Valerie Jarrett on Meet the Press Oct. 18

The first thing David Gregory does is throw up "Obama's economy" stats on the screen, laying blame. Gregory knows, anyone who's paying attention knows, that Obama is not to blame for those stats. There's no feasible way that democrats or republicans could've turned the economy around within 10 months.
The economic mess we got ourselves into will take time to recover from. We're at a point in history, reckoning with a number of different things, such as other nations emerging as more economically powerful, more educated than the U.S.
The nation's economy is fundamentally screwed up. It's been driven by greed at the top and consumer greed for more things. That kind of economy is not sustainable.
The question is, what's to be done?
At the roundtable, they discuss Maria Shriver's new report, A Women's Nation, which gives fuel to the idea that workplaces need to be more accommodating to families.

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Obama Speaks on Banking Reform Oct. 9

Here is Obama's scheduled speech on the Consumer Financial Protection Agency at the White House today:

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Kerry: Kennedy Would Fight Hard For Public Option and Then

Sen. John Kerry said on This Week that Kennedy would fight hard for the public option, but if it wasn't going to happen he'd work on what he could make happen.
Watch it here.
Near the end of this video (highlights of the Sunday political shows) Sen. Chris Dodd says Obama needs to step up and frame the debate again. The Obamas are headed back to DC today, so we shall see what's next. We shall see if we can shake the wingnuts.

Chris Dodd Tells Funny Kennedy Stories

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Chris Dodd Questions Ben Bernanke

Obama Speaks on Prescription Drug Costs

Obama says "Yes we can."

Obama Signs Credit Card Reform Bill Video

Senate Passes Credit Card Reform Bill

Next, reconciling House and Senate bills:

The Senate today overwhelmingly passed a bill that would sharply curtail credit card issuers' ability to raise interest rates and charge fees, taking a critical step in reforming an industry that has gone largely unregulated for decades.

In a 90-5 vote, the Senate delivered a victory to consumer groups and to the White House, who blame industry practices for sending Americans deeper into debt just as they are losing their jobs and their homes.

Lawmakers will now turn to reconciling differences with a similar bill passed by the House on April 30. President Obama has said he wants to sign a bill into law by Memorial Day. WaPo

Apparently, the senate bill has a string attached.

Stimulus Bill Now Has Stricter Executive Compensation Rules

Zina Saunders painting

Executive pay caps were stripped from the bill, but their salaries are now subject to an even harsher provision, thanks to Sen. Chris Dodd.

Apparently, Obama's economic advisors warned against adding Dodd's provision to the bill, but since Timothy Geithner wasn't tough enough on companies who received bailout money, the provision was added at the last minute. Now, all companies that receive bailout funds have to abide by the new rules, not just the companies that get the money going forward. And there's more:

NYT: A provision buried deep inside the $787 billion economic stimulus bill would impose restrictions on executive bonuses at financial institutions that are much tougher than those proposed 10 days ago by the Treasury Department.

The provision, inserted by Senate Democrats over the objections of the Obama administration, is aimed at companies that have received financial bailout funds. It would prohibit cash bonuses and almost all other incentive compensation for the five most senior officers and the 20 highest-paid executives at large companies that receive money under the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.

The stimulus package was approved by the House on Friday, then by the Senate in the late evening.

The pay restrictions resemble those that the Treasury Department announced this month, but are likely to ensnare more executives at many more companies and also to cut more deeply into the bonuses that often account for the bulk of annual pay.
The restriction with the most bite would bar top executives from receiving bonuses exceeding one-third of their annual pay. Any bonus would have to be in the form of long-term incentives, like restricted stock, which could not be cashed out until the TARP money was repaid in full.

Some are complaining about a "brain drain." If the kinds of brains we're draining are the kind that will do anything for money, I say drain away! I'm sure they'll find someone to work for a lousy $500,000 or whatever. 

But some experts on executive compensation warned that the restrictions could unleash unintended consequences, like encouraging banks to increase salaries to make up for diminished incentive pay. Even then, they warned, banks were likely to lose top talent.

“These rules will not work,” James F. Reda, an independent compensation consultant, said on Friday. “Any smart executive will (a) pay back TARP money ASAP or (b) get another job.”

The differences between Geithner's provisions and Dodd's:

The biggest difference between Mr. Dodd’s provision and the Treasury rules is that the new stimulus provision would apply to any company that either has received money or will receive money in the future under the Treasury’s financial rescue program. By contrast, the plan announced by Mr. Geithner would apply only to companies that receive federal money in the future.

The revised rules do not impose a formal cap on executive compensation, unlike the Treasury proposal. Under that plan, banks were barred from paying more than $500,000 in salary until they repaid the TARP funds to the government. (Banks were permitted to offer bonuses in restricted stock.) Senator Dodd’s rules, however, go a step further, prohibiting banks from awarding restricted stock to 25 top executives equal to more than one-third of their annual cash compensation until the banks have repaid all the money owed.

Read the whole thing here.