As Congress starts debating how to deal with financial firms deemed "too big too fail," some lawmakers and advocates are worried about giving the executive branch expansive new powers over the financial sector.
One year after risky practices by the nation's biggest banks almost brought down the economy, many of those institutions are even bigger -- and some say even riskier.
ACORN filed suit Wednesday in Baltimore, Maryland, against two filmmakers who secretly recorded videos embarrassing to the agency, claiming the pair violated state law by recording their conversations without permission of the employees involved.
This summer, when Obama administration officials talked about overhauling financial regulation, they threw around a catchy phrase sure to appeal to consumers: "Plain vanilla" mortgages and credit cards.
Financial consumers would have fewer protections than originally envisioned under a draft of a bill being circulated on Capitol Hill.
Mortgage servicers have picked up the pace of loan modifications over the past month, after coming under fire for not doing enough to help troubled borrowers.
Most Congress members conducting town hall meetings this month have chosen a noncombative posture to deal with angry participants who disrupt the proceedings. Not Rep. Barney Frank.
Jared was forced to choose between a dying father and the love of his life.
Congressman Barney Frank is taking some major heat for making a serious accusation against Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
Washington is a dangerous place for business leaders these days. "There's absolutely no political risk in rounding up the witches," says crisis consultant Eric Dezenhall, who likens today's Congress to a colonial Salem for corporate executives.
As Congress starts debating how to deal with financial firms deemed "too big too fail," some lawmakers and advocates are worried about giving the executive branch expansive new powers over the financial sector.
One year after risky practices by the nation's biggest banks almost brought down the economy, many of those institutions are even bigger -- and some say even riskier.
ACORN filed suit Wednesday in Baltimore, Maryland, against two filmmakers who secretly recorded videos embarrassing to the agency, claiming the pair violated state law by recording their conversations without permission of the employees involved.
This summer, when Obama administration officials talked about overhauling financial regulation, they threw around a catchy phrase sure to appeal to consumers: "Plain vanilla" mortgages and credit cards.
Financial consumers would have fewer protections than originally envisioned under a draft of a bill being circulated on Capitol Hill.
Mortgage servicers have picked up the pace of loan modifications over the past month, after coming under fire for not doing enough to help troubled borrowers.
Most Congress members conducting town hall meetings this month have chosen a noncombative posture to deal with angry participants who disrupt the proceedings. Not Rep. Barney Frank.
Jared was forced to choose between a dying father and the love of his life.
Congressman Barney Frank is taking some major heat for making a serious accusation against Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
Washington is a dangerous place for business leaders these days. "There's absolutely no political risk in rounding up the witches," says crisis consultant Eric Dezenhall, who likens today's Congress to a colonial Salem for corporate executives.
A key House panel on Wednesday advanced a bill to crack down on credit card interest rates and fees amid signs the Obama administration will try to toughen the bill further before it goes to a full vote.
In the U.S. Senate, seniority is all: You wait your turn. No one knows that better than Democrat Chris Dodd, the senior senator from Connecticut. "I went through 28 years of sitting next to people who either had the constitution of mules or great longevity," Dodd told Fortune late one afternoon recently in his arch-windowed office on Capitol Hill.
As the tide of outrage over AIG bonuses continued unabated Wednesday, a congressional committee became the epicenter of the issue as Edward Liddy, CEO and chairman of the troubled insurer, prepared to answer questions about executive bonuses.
Policymakers are reaching deep into their toolbox in search of a fix for the troubled financial markets. And once again, they are targeting short sellers, investors who profit when a stock price falls.
A bank that received $1.6 billion dollars of the government's bailout money sponsored what reports are calling a lavish series of events in Los Angeles, California, last weekend.
JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup Inc. announced plans Friday to temporarily halt foreclosures as the government works to finalize the details of a financial rescue package that could include billions of dollars in aid for struggling homeowners.
A day after Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said it would be a few weeks before he unveils a solution for the housing crisis, regulators and lawmakers pressed financial institutions to suspend foreclosures until the plan comes out.
As required by the federal bailout law, the Federal Reserve will look to prevent foreclosures by modifying the terms on certain delinquent loans, lawmakers said Tuesday.
President-elect Barack Obama secured access to the second half of the $700 billion financial rescue package Thursday, after the Senate voted 52-42 to kill a measure that would have blocked the funds' release.
House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank promised to move quickly on a bill that promises $50 billion of foreclosure relief and toughens terms on companies getting taxpayer money.
Help may soon be on the way to the struggling U.S. auto industry after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi backed off her opposition to using funds from a fuel-efficiency research program for a bailout, two congressional officials said Friday.
Congressional Democrats are asking the Big Three automakers to submit a plan no later than December 2 for spending the $25 billion they have requested to rescue their companies, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday.
Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, highlighted the need for a bailout program for troubled homeowners on Wednesday. But he stressed that not all borrowers should necessarily be rescued.
Congressman and Wall Street critic Barney Frank calls the new rules governing executive pay for banks that take direct government investment "historic," adding "[t]his is the first time in American history that the federal government has applied restrictions on the compensation that goes to top executives."
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle Tuesday backed a Treasury Department plan to use part of the $700 billion bailout package to buy shares in U.S. banks.
House Republicans on Monday objected to new spending measures that congressional Democrats are considering as they draft a $150 billion economic stimulus package.
The fate of the government's $700 billion financial bailout plan was thrown into doubt Monday as the House rejected the controversial measure.
Rep. Barney Frank, a high-ranking Democrat, said he is convinced that by Sunday, lawmakers will reach a deal on the proposed $700 billion bailout of the nation's financial system.
The Bush administration and Congress anxiously revived negotiations Friday on a $700 billion financial bailout, one day after the largest bank collapse in U.S. history provided a brutal reminder of the risks of failure
What began as high-stakes negotiations over the proposed $700 billion bailout of the nation's financial system dissolved into bickering, begging and a roiling battle between parties Thursday night.
One day after President Bush said the nation's economy is at grave risk, the high-stakes negotiations over the proposed $700 billion bailout of the financial system ended in chaos on Thursday.
The Bush administration wants to help beleaguered financial institutions - and prevent the financial crisis from getting worse - by spending $700 billion to buy up troubled mortgage securities.
Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill said on Sunday that the Bush administration's $700 billion proposal to bail out the financial system lacked necessary safeguards for taxpayers and homeowners.
Congressional leaders said Friday that they were determined to quickly pass a massive plan to stabilize the financial market after they heard a "sobering" assessment from the administration's economic team.
The federal government, in what will be its most far-reaching attempt yet to contain the financial crisis, is poised to establish a program to let banks get rid of mortgage-related assets that have been hard to value and harder to trade.
Spend 27 years in Congress and you're bound to encounter more than one financial train wreck. But as Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., sees it, the meltdown in the U.S. housing market poses as much of a threat to the nation's economic well-being as anything he's encountered during his time on Capitol Hill.
Terry Read transferred $400 into his wife's checking account on a Friday. Over the weekend, his wife used her debit card to make some small purchases, and on Monday she was slammed with a $35 overdraft fee because his cash transfer hadn't cleared yet.
President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner repeated her call this week to decriminalize personal drug use and crack down on traffickers and dealers.
Rep. Barney Frank introduced a House bill Wednesday that would end federal penalties for Americans carrying fewer than 100 grams, or about a quarter-pound, of marijuana.
The U.S. should stop arresting responsible marijuana users, Rep. Barney Frank said Wednesday, announcing a proposal to end federal penalties for Americans carrying fewer than 100 grams, almost a quarter-pound, of the substance.
A key House committee grilled home lenders and housing advocates on Friday about mortgage industry efforts to work out affordable loans for troubled homeowners.
Congress moved a big step closer Tuesday to expanding government efforts to help at-risk homeowners.
Senate Banking Committee leaders said Monday that they have come to a deal on a housing bill that would prevent foreclosures, create affordable housing and revamp oversight of two of the mortgage market's biggest players: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Politicians in Washington are busy arguing about the financial and moral hazards of coming to the aid of troubled homeowners.
While Congress grapples with how to help troubled homeowners, the Bush administration is expanding a more modest effort to help at-risk borrowers.
A bill that would allow the government to guarantee new mortgages for homeowners facing foreclosure passed the House on Thursday, but it faces a veto threat from the White House and an uncertain fate in the Senate.
A bill meant to help homeowners caught up in the spreading mortgage crisis received committee approval Thursday after Democrats fended off numerous Republican challenges to the bill.
Congressional Democrats and the White House are on a collision course over an ambitious proposal drafted to address the spreading mortgage crisis.
Homeowners staggering under mounting mortgage debt and facing foreclosure could get cheaper, government-backed loans under Democrats' housing rescue plan
The new plan for changes in financial regulation appears to follow a common Bush pattern: a preemptive move against tougher regulations. But Democrats are ready to deal
Government officials urged credit rating agencies Wednesday to rethink the way they rate municipal bonds, arguing that the current system saddles local governments and taxpayers with unnecessary costs.
This year's special rebate checks haven't been mailed out yet, but Congress is working on a foreclosure-prevention bill in conjunction with more proposals aimed at stimulating the economy.
Two lawmakers are calling on Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo to give a portion of his severance package to charities that could help families affected by the mortgage crisis.
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., has secured two key Republican endorsements on his legislative plan to reform the mortgage industry, avoiding a potentially bruising political fight this week.
Barney Frank and Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke want everyone to know this: They are not engaging in morally hazardous behavior.
The full impact of the upheaval in financial markets "has yet to play out," a top administration official said Wednesday, while stressing that the effect will be dampened somewhat by solid economic growth
The worst housing slump in 16 years and upheaval in financial markets have cast a shadow on the economy, leading lawmakers to question federal regulators
Congressional Democrats promoting legislative solutions to the mortgage-market crisis said Wednesday that a Bush administration plan doesn't go far enough to protect homeowners who face huge increases in their monthly payments when rates on their adjustable mortgages jump in the months ahead.
The full impact of the upheaval in financial markets "has yet to play out," a top administration official said Wednesday, while stressing that the effect will be dampened somewhat by solid economic growth.
The House Financial Services Committee asked the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury Department to testify at a hearing Sept. 5 that will examine the current crises in the credit and mortgage market, Chairman Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, said Monday.
U.S. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd on Friday called for an examination of the credit rating agencies' role in valuing the subprime mortgage securities market.
All five commissioners of the Securities and Exchange Commission are to appear Tuesday at a Congressional hearing that is expected to explore hedge fund activities, access to corporate proxy statements and so-called soft-dollar arrangements.
A bill to raise taxes on "carried interest" compensation awarded to private equity firm partners was introduced Friday by 14 Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Lawmakers will take a closer look at the exclusive world of private equity on Wednesday, with a focus on the effect that buyouts can have on companies and on workers.
The House passed legislation that gives shareholders a nonbinding say on executive compensation on Friday.
John J. Castellani has a dream, best described (with apologies to Castellani) as a twist on the 1975 hit "Why Can't We Be Friends?". As president of the Business Roundtable, Castellani is the Washington go-to guy for the nation's top CEOs, and right now he's gamely trying to make the most of a new political environment in which his constituency is about as popular as a batch of rejects from last night's American Idol.
Make sure there's extra money in the piggy bank for some wrist rests. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is expected to put its new workplace standards into effect by year's e...
Easily the most maddening political debate these days is the one about whether Congressman Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat, should resign on grounds of turpitude. Some say yes (e.g., the B...
LEBANON, IND. -- A woman accused of writing a bad check for groceries on Christmas Eve tried to eat the evidence, and now is charging authorities with violating her civil rights by pulling the chec...
; In a better world, we would not put our children through this. Every high school senior would know precisely what he or she wanted out of higher education; college admissions directors would hone...
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