Senate panel approves Wall Street Reform Bill

Today the Senate Agriculture Committee passed a Wall Street reform bill intended to protect the economy from future "meltdowns" and bailouts. The bill passed with 13-8 in favor, and will impose regulations on Wall Street derivatives (which is defined as "a security whose price is dependent upon or derived from one or more underlying assets. The derivative itself is merely a contract between two or more parties" by Dictionary.com)

Interestingly, only one Republican (from Iowa) voted with the Democrats. Senate leaders will not attempt to combine this bill with reforms outlined in a financial regulations reform bill that has already been passed by the Senate Banking Committee and is ready to be debated by the entire body. This bill seeks to set up financial oversight on Wall Street to prevent another breakdown. It also includes an "early warning" system to identify any signs of crisis before they have a chance to escalate into another recession, as well as a "$50 billion liquidation fund created with money from banks and other financial industry corporations to ensure an orderly process of closing down failing entities."

Last week Republicans represented a unanimous front against passage of the bill, but now are saying they are open for compromise. Clearly the Senator from Iowa thinks its a good idea, so what changed his mind?

Well the details of the bill seem a little blurry still and of course means more government regulation in the economy, given the impact Wall Street's failures have had widespread across the nation, I think the general idea of this bill in terms of keeping Wall Street in check is a good idea.