BREAKING NEWS

US Senate passes massive Wall Street regulation bill

The Senate passed the most far-reaching restraints on big banks since the Great Depression, late Thursday. In its broad sweep, the massive bill would touch Wall Street CEOs and first-time homebuyers, high-flying traders and small town lenders.
The 59-39 vote represents an important achievement for President Barack Obama, and comes just two months after his health care overhaul became law.
The legislation aims to prevent a recurrence of the near-meltdown of big Wall Street investment banks and the resulting costly bailouts. It calls for new ways to watch for risks in the financial system and makes it easier to liquidate large failing financial firms. It also writes new rules for complex securities blamed for helping precipitate the 2008 economic crisis, and it creates a new consumer protection agency.
It would impose new restraints on the largest, most interconnected banks and demand proof that borrowers could pay for the simplest of mortgages.