Dodd aims for January vote on financial regs

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) said on Wednesday that he aims to have a final vote in the Senate by January on major legislation to rewrite financial regulations.

Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said the timing depends on the outcome of the healthcare debate now raging in the Senate.

{mosads}Votes on the Senate floor could take place “maybe in late November, maybe  December, maybe after the first of the year.” Dodd is eying a markup hearing in the banking committee in November, and plans to spend October reaching a consensus with Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), the committee’s ranking Republican.

“If you rush too quickly in the heat of all of this you can wind up doing things you regret,” Dodd said in the interview on CNBC.

House Financial Service Committee Chairman Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) is planning a mark up hearing by mid-October on the Obama administration’s proposal for a new consumer protection agency. Frank intends to move legislation through the full House before the end of the year.

The administration is ramping up the pressure on lawmakers to pass new financial regulations in the next few months.

“Obviously we want to get this done as quickly as we can,” Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in a briefing with reporters on Tuesday. “As we’ve seen before, as you let the memory of the crisis fade it’s easier for people to fight reform. The best strategy our opponents can adopt is to slow things down.”