OBAMA DEMANDS DERIVATIVE REGULATION
By JIM KUHNHENN and ERICA WERNER
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON | President Barack Obama vowed Friday to veto any financial overhaul that didnât regulate derivatives.
A Senate bill, reported out by the Banking Committee for floor debate, could be the first to regulate derivatives, the complex financial instruments that contributed to the economic meltdown in 2008 when their value plummeted.
All 41 Republican senators lined up against that bill Friday and demanded further negotiations. But their opposition has focused on a $50 billion bank liquidation fund rather than on limits on derivatives.
The administration appeared willing to go along with dropping that fund, which the GOP has labeled a bailout fund that would encourage banks to take undue risks. But the president was adamant that any changes in the bill should leave in the derivatives regulation.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said he and all 40 of his fellow Republican senators had signed a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, calling for more discussion aimed at changing the bill.
The unified GOP stance came as a setback for majority Democrats who were hunting for individual Republicans to peel away to get the 60 votes needed to overcome a likely procedural roadblock.
The Obama administration, through a senior Treasury Department official, said the bank liquidation fund was unnecessary and should be dropped. Under the Senate legislation, large financial institutions would provide the $50 billion, which the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. would use to pay for dismantling failing firms.
The administration instead wants the costs of liquidation to be paid by the financial industry after a firm has failed and been dismantled.
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