Dems May Cave on Consumer Agency

Senate Democrats are signaling that they're willing to drop the independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency to get financial reform passed, but they'll have to go through bailout watchdog Elizabeth Warren to kill it. The fight over the independent agency is a showdown between the banks' interests and those of American families, Warren told supporters yesterday—and the outcome will show "whether the financial crisis actually changed something."

Banks have been firmly opposed to the creation of a CFPA because it would threaten their ability to make huge profits by selling deceptively labeled financial products, Warren says. "The CFPA is the best indicator of whether Congress will reform Wall Street or whether it will continue to give Wall Street whatever it wants," Warren tells Reuters, warning that the reform bill might as well read "Made in Wall St." if the CFPA goes. (More consumer protection agency stories.)