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Taking aim at Wall Street and the U.S. central bank, an important House committee voted Thursday to assess fees on large financial firms to pay for the failure of their peers and to require a sweeping congressional audit of the secretive Federal Reserve.
Senate Democrats on Tuesday proposed stripping the Federal Reserve of its supervisory powers and creating instead three new federal agencies to police banks, protect consumers and dismantle failing institutions.
The House voted on Wednesday to impose immediately tough new rules for credit card companies after voters complained of increased interest rates and steep new fees.
Senior congressional Democrats say legislation is still needed to limit how lenders charge customers who overspend on their accounts, even though some big banks have already curbed high-fee overdraft programs.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said he sees positive signs that the economy is recovering, although the recession remains "alive and acute" for families dealing with unemployment and facing home foreclosure.
The House Financial Services Committee has voted to give federal regulators more power and money to police major players in the stock market.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, who is fighting for his political survival, proposed Monday an immediate interest rate freeze on existing balances for the estimated 700 million credit cards in circulation.
The House Financial Services Committee has voted to speed up the enactment of tough new credit card rules from mid-February of next year to Dec. 1 of this year.
The House Financial Services Committee has voted to set new rules for credit rating agencies, which lawmakers say misled investors by giving high marks to risky securities tied to subprime mortgages.
Towana Gooch, a single mom who lives with her 10-year old daughter, was on the verge of losing her town house in suburban Maryland after her mortgage lender kicked her out of a government loan modification program. The problem, she says she was notified, was a 7-cent error.
Liberal Democrats struggled Thursday to give states new powers to protect consumers from fraud and abuse, but banks may be able to nix the idea when a financial overhaul bill reaches the House floor.
Rep. Barney Frank, the tough-talking liberal ushering through a major rewrite of rules governing Wall Street, sounded a warning shot on Thursday to big banks: Start playing nice or Congress will make your life even more difficult.
Moderate House Democrats are drafting a proposal that would continue to shield big banks from potentially tougher state regulations of credit cards, mortgages and savings accounts.
A bipartisan push is under way in the Senate to spend more money to stop mortgage scams.
House lawmakers want to pry open the books of the famously secretive Federal Reserve with legislation that would subject the central bank to a sweeping congressional audit.
Ceding ground amid growing business opposition, the Obama administration on Wednesday signaled a willingness to exempt retailers, real estate brokers, lawyers, auto dealers, cable companies and accountants from oversight of its proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency.
Congress is expected to reject President Barack Obama's proposed mandate that banks offer customers "plain vanilla" financial products, such as a 30-year fixed mortgage.
Sen. Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Banking Committee, said Thursday he wants to curb overdraft fees charged by banks, a move that would cut into a lucrative revenue stream for the financial industry.
The chairman of a new congressionally appointed panel on Thursday pledged to deliver a no-holds barred investigation into last year's devastating economic collapse, including whether big financial firms and their government regulators were guilty of criminal misconduct.
A leadership shake-up announced Wednesday by Senate Democrats due to Ted Kennedy's death will continue to empower the party's more left-leaning members on crucial issues, with Sen. Tom Harkin set to take over health care.
Sen. Christopher Dodd has decided against succeeding his friend Edward Kennedy as chairman of the Senate panel focused on overhauling the nation's health care system, a Senate aide confirmed Tuesday.
President Barack Obama's plan to recast how the government regulates Wall Street could be thrown a curve this fall if Sen. Tim Johnson, a Democrat whose home state is a major hub for credit card companies, takes over the chairmanship of the Senate's banking committee.
Congress should investigate whether a lucrative oil contract might have played a role in the release of the only man convicted in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, a New Jersey senator said Wednesday.
Amid a boisterous debate on health care reform, people flooded members of Congress on Thursday with so many e-mails that they overloaded the House's primary Web site.
House Democratic leaders said Monday that they will not force the Pentagon to buy four new passenger jets used to ferry senior government officials.
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