Stacy Kaper

Republicans have grand ambitions for what they plan to accomplish if they, as expected, win control of the House in Tuesday's election, but their victory is more likely to lead to ...

The Massachusetts Democrat continues to hold a sizable lead in polls, but his opponent, Republican Sean Bielat, argues that public anger over the economy, anti-incumbent fervor and Sen. Scott Brown's surprise victory this year prove he has a shot at beating Frank.

Unlike other House Republicans, Rep. Ed Royce is not looking to repeal outright the Dodd-Frank reg reform law, but the California lawmaker is likely to try and clip its wings.

Rep. Spencer Bachus came out swinging Wednesday against speculation he may not become chairman of the House Financial Services Committee if Republicans win control of the House in the midterm elections.

At a Senate Banking Committee hearing, supporters of the plan argued that covered bonds are an untapped channel that could supply additional liquidity to the sluggish mortgage markets.

Senate Democrats largely supported the idea of appointing Elizabeth Warren as the temporary head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, with one key exception — Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd — who joined Republicans in arguing such a move would be a "mistake."

Though Democrats scored a big political victory in passing regulatory reform, many are already paying for it as the financial services industry directs more of its contributions toward Republicans and moderates who tried to pare back the revamp.

In the Senate for decades, Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd found passing regulatory reform to be one of his toughest challenges. In an extensive interview, he relives key moments, responds to criticism of the bill, and reflects on his own disappointments with the final law.

The legislation by Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., would establish a regulatory framework for covered bonds, including a regime to handle the failure of a bond issuer.

President Obama's signing of regulatory reform legislation Wednesday signaled the official end of a hard-fought legislative battle but just the beginning of the tougher task of implementing the new law.

Although the Senate finally voted Thursday to send regulatory reform to the president's desk, policy circles are already abuzz about what changes to seek in a "corrections" bill to fix problems with the legislation.

Barring any unforeseen upheavals, Democrats have the assurances they need to secure the 60 votes needed for Senate passage of the Dodd-Frank bill.

In an emergency session to salvage wayward votes and put regulatory reform legislation back on track, House and Senate conferees agreed late Tuesday to strip a proposed bank tax from the bill and add other budget offsetting mechanisms in its place.

While the House is still expected to pass the final bill soon, it was unclear when the Senate would act, or whether Democrats still had enough support to enact it.

After a marathon final day of debate, the regulatory reform process ended in the early hours of Friday in the same dramatic manner it had been conducted for more than a year: with a near breakdown followed eventually by a miraculous save.

While several critical regulatory reform issues remained in limbo late Wednesday, House and Senate conferees agreed to several key provisions, including one allowing banks to pay interest on business checking accounts.

House and Senate conferees are expected Thursday to add language to the final regulatory reform bill that would strengthen a provision to ban proprietary trading and restrict investment in private-equity firms and hedge funds.

House and Senate conferees were set Tuesday to deal national banks a setback, agreeing on final language that would make it harder for federal regulators to preempt state consumer protection laws.

House conferees reached an accord with Sen. Richard Durbin on a provision of the regulatory reform bill that would allow the Fed to regulate interchange fees on debit cards.

The conference committee made critical changes to the regulatory reform bill in its first substantive week of work, but the hardest decisions are still ahead.