View full sizeWASHINGTON — With one eye on the calendar and the other on elusive bipartisanship, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd plans to offer his own version of a sweeping overhaul of financial regulations without Republican support.
Dodd said today he would release his proposal on Monday and begin the committee’s work on the bill the week of March 22.
“Clearly, we need to move along,” he said.
His decision immediately complicated the prospects for a Senate bill already months in the making, and it raised new questions about Congress’ ability to respond to a financial crisis that erupted more than 18 months ago with the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
Four weeks of negotiations between Dodd, D-Conn., and Republican Sen. Bob Corker had closed differences over key provisions, including consumer protections, but details on that and other sticking points remained unsettled.
“As time moves on, you just limit the possibilities of getting something done, particularly a bill of this magnitude and this complexity,” Dodd said.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said today he hoped the Senate would act on a bill by Memorial Day.
Dodd’s surprise decision to move without a final deal comes during an era of high partisanship in Congress that has entangled health care, blocked progress on climate change and energy legislation, and angered a public with an increasing disdain for incumbents.
Congress and the administration have been trying to assemble an overhaul of regulations since last summer in hopes of preventing a recurrence of the 2008 Wall Street meltdown. It has not been an easy task. The House passed its version of a …
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