July 16, 2010 01:29 AM UTC

Senate Passes Financial Overhaul

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• by: Colorado Pols

We take a break from our regularly-scheduled viewing of the Scott McInnis campaign trainwreck for this news from The Associated Press:

Congress passed a sweeping overhaul of America’s financial regulations Thursday, securing for President Barack Obama his third major, hard-fought legislative victory.

Obama said he will sign the bill next week.

“I’m about to sign Wall Street reform into law, to protect consumers and lay the foundation for a stronger and safer financial system, one that is innovative, creative, competitive and far less prone to panic and collapse,” the president said at the White House.

“Unless your business model depends on cutting corners or bilking your customers, you have nothing to fear.”

The bill has been Obama’s top domestic priority after the passage of health care legislation and his early victory in setting up a nearly $800 billion fund to pump life into an economy hit with the deepest downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

The 2,300-page bill aims to address regulatory weaknesses blamed for the 2008 financial crisis. It gives regulators broad authority to rein in banks, limit risk-taking by financial firms and supervise previously unregulated trading. It also makes it easier to liquidate large, financially interconnected institutions, and it creates a new consumer protection bureau to guard against lending abuses.

Both Colorado Senators, Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, voted in favor of the bill.