A New Financial Oversight Bill Emerges

By Jim Kuhnhenn, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON AP) — Unable to muster bipartisan agreement on key banking provisions, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said Thursday he will offer his own version of a sweeping overhaul of financial regulations without Republican support.

A month of talks between Dodd and Republican Sen. Bob Corker found some common ground but failed to yield agreement on consumer protections and other sticking points.

"Together we have made significant progress and resolved many of the items, but a few outstanding issues remain," Dodd said in a statement. Dodd said he still aimed to get a consensus bill, but said time was running out.

Dodd's go-it-alone choice is in keeping with an emerging culture of high partisanship on Capitol Hill, where Democrats and Republicans have been at odds for over a year on health care changes, little progress has been made on climate change and energy legislation, and members of both parties watch warily as an angry voting public continues to show heavy disdain for incumbents.

"We have reached a point where bringing the bill to the full committee is the best course of action to achieve that end," he said. Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, plans to have the Banking Committee take up the bill the week of March 22.

He said he and Corker would continue to hold talks. Corker planned to comment on the legislation later Thursday morning.

The development raises new questions about one of President Barack Obama's top priorities. Congress and the administration have been trying to assemble an overhaul of regulations in hopes of preventing a recurrence of the financial crisis that hit the nation in the fall of 2008. The House passed its version of a bill in December on a party-line vote.