Seldom does the collapse of a major financial institution qualify as a subject for presidential commemmoration. But President Obama, ever in search of a teachable moment, plans to use Monday's first anniversary of the demise of Lehman Bros. to issue a rallying cry to overhaul financial regulations -- and to prod the Senate to take action on one of his top-tier priorities.
Obama will appear at Federal Hall, on Wall Street, to discuss the need for new rules governing the trading of financial derivatives and new structures that protect consumers by approving mortgage products and imposing new disclosure rules. He'll also likely repeat his pitch to give the Federal Reserve the power to regulate systemic risk, a proposal that's aroused substantial ire from Fed critics in Congress.
Press secretary Robert Gibbs on Friday said Obama was using the occasion to remind Americans how close the economy came to the abyss, and to sell a series of steps "to ensure what happened a year ago won't happen again." He declined to say who'll be in the audience at the site, where George Washington took the oath of office as the first president and where the first Congress, Supreme Court and executive branch offices were located.
Work on a financial overhaul has all but stalled in the Senate, which remains consumed by the health care debate. Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Chairman Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., was noncommital about a timetable this week, saying he's more concerned with getting it done right than completing work by an arbitrary deadline.
Administration officials say they're confident that lawmakers can vote out of a package this fall. "Too often, we forget the pain ... we don't want to lose sight of what we've been though," said Christina Romer, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers.
Beyond financial regulations, the administration also has important decisions ahead about provisions in the economic stimulus package (PL 111-5) that are set to expire. These include an $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit, a health insurance subsidy for laid-off workers that applies only to those who lose their jobs before the end of the year, and a provision that makes the first $2,400 of unemployment benefits tax-free in 2009. Officials aren't committing to anything yet, saying they're still studying the effectiveness of the initiatives.
"There are a number of things we're thinking about ... and will need to have serious policy discussions with Congress," Romer said.
![[RSS]](http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/templates/images/rss_icon.gif){kind=icon}
![[ARCHIVES]](http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/templates/images/archives_icon.png){kind=icon}
Post A Comment