More than a year after Lehman Brothers' collapse set off a financial panic, Senate negotiators appear close to resolving a narrow dispute that was holding up broad legislation to set new rules for Wall Street.
At issue was whether a government consumer watchdog agency should be free from bank regulators to write rules that govern everything from credit card and overdraft fees to payday loans and mortgages.
After a flurry of offers and counter proposals over the past three days, the Senate Banking Committee was closing in on a deal that would house a government consumer entity inside the Federal Reserve but give it autonomous power to write regulations, three people familiar with the talks told the Associated Press Monday night.
The sources spoke on the condition on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the evolving talks publicly.
The idea, proposed by Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, could break the logjam that has prevented a bipartisan bill from emerging in the Senate. While the sources said the Banking Committee's chairman, Democrat Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, was seriously entertaining the plan, it was unclear whether the committee's top Republican, Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, was receptive to it. Dodd would also need to persuade fellow Democrats to accept the compromise.
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