Senate Democratic leaders cleared two major obstacles Thursday to winning passage of a Wall Street reform bill, beating back a Republican effort to curb the reach of a new consumer agency and striking a compromise on a watered-down bill to shine a light on Federal Reserve activities.
Democrats dispensed with the GOP's measure on a new consumer protection agency comfortably, bolstered by a statement from President Barack Obama that the Republican plan was "worse than the status quo."
But it took an aggressive last-minute lobbying effort by White House, Treasury and Federal Reserve officials to win a compromise on the Fed amendment. The original language called for a "comprehensive" audit of the Fed's activities, most of which historically have been kept from public view.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the chief sponsor, struck a deal on the Senate floor to limit the scope of the one-time audit to only the Fed's emergency lending to banks, allaying concerns that a review would have interfered with interest rate decisions.
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