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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senators negotiating financial regulatory reform legislation said on Sunday they were close to a bipartisan agreement, as the White House said fraud charges against Wall Street titan Goldman Sachs highlighted the need for reform. Democratic Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd and Senator Richard Shelby, the panel's top Republican, told NBC's "Meet the Press" they were talking through the weekend to try to reach agreement on a bill aimed at preventing future taxpayer bailouts of financial firms. "We're getting there, we're close, we've got more work to do," Dodd said. "I hope can get the votes tomorrow...

Regulation: President Obama went to New York City Thursday to make clear his displeasure with what he called Wall Street's "failure of responsibility." But that's the very thing government is guilty of.

As the country's attention is directed to the Goldman-Sachs scandal, a much greater story lurks beneath the surface involving massive government corruption that makes Wall Street firms pale in comparison. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak). Sen. Chris Dodd, D-CT. The current government of the United States of America under the leadership of Barack Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress is the single most corrupt entity in the nation, worse than all of the private sector scandals combined. One would be hard-pressed to find an era of U.S history when government was any more corrupt than it is at present. The manner in which...

Brad Sherman's (D) - represents California’s San Fernando Valley, and has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1997. Congressman Sherman is serving his seventh term in Congress. Are Democrats or Republicans hurt more by ties to Goldman Sachs? How can Democrats get out ahead of the Goldman Sachs story politically? We can say, “No taxpayer money to Wall Street firms, their creditors and the counterparts.” Then we go to the voters and tell them there’s no money for Wall Street, but regulation instead. If you can’t run on that slogan, you’ve got a problem. But there are serious...

Goldman Sachs, one of Wall Street's most prestigious investment banks was also among the many banks in 2008 and 2009 to receive billions of dollars in taxpayer money to help it stay afloat... The firm tends to give most of its money to Democrats... Cycle 2008 Total: $5,934,089. Democrats: $4,463,788 (75%). Republicans: $1,459,961 (25%) Total contributions 1990-2010: Democrats 64%, Republicans 35%.

WASHINGTON—Senate legislation aimed at overhauling regulation of finance would cost large banks billions of dollars, prevent them from taking certain risks and create a new regulatory infrastructure to oversee their activities. The draft bill introduced Monday by Senate Banking Chairman Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut is tougher on financial companies than was expected just a few weeks ago. Mr. Dodd's bill would allow the Fed to examine any bank-holding company with more than $50 billion in assets, and large financial companies that aren't banks could be lassoed into the Fed's supervisory orbit. One of the most controversial aspects of the...

WASHINGTON—Senate Republicans on Tuesday sought to paint a Democratic financial-regulation bill as an endless bailout package and accused Democrats of pushing the proposal in a partisan direction. Fresh from a two-week recess, top Republicans came out swinging at the package, which could come up for debate in the full Senate later this month. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said in a Senate floor speech that his party couldn't support Democratic legislation aimed at overhauling financial-sector regulation, because it "institutionalizes" future taxpayer bailouts of Wall Street firms. Mr. McConnell said the legislation would give the Federal Reserve "enhanced emergency...

With an ice-cold disdain for public opinion and an obsession worthy of Lenin, President Obama and Speaker Nancy Pelosi rammed ObamaCare through the House by unprecedented parliamentary trickery, bribery and deceit. The President has thereby poisoned the national political well. But the health care fight has just begun. Substantive constitutional court challenges are coming. Congressional elections are around the corner, and there's a growing opposition that wants to undo what Obama has just done. The President will discover that, ultimately, the American people's tenacity will overwhelm his--and he will be a failed President. But the cost of his public-be-damned attitude...

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) fired back at House Republicans who questioned his ethics this week, calling the GOP officials who crafted a critical press release “pathetic.” The House GOP Conference, headed by Rep. Mike Pence (Ind.), issued a policy paper on its website Tuesday that referred to Dodd as a “Friend of Angelo.” That is a reference to a special VIP program established by former Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo, who has been charged with civil fraud and insider trading by federal investigators. The policy paper, titled, “Taxpayers should not trust the ‘Friend of Angelo,’” details what Republicans views as flaws...

Life, liberty and the . . . “right” to health care? Chris Dodd has proclaimed that “every American” has the “right” to health care. He said so on tonight’s Countdown, while reminiscing about Ted Kennedy. If health care is a “right,” what about food, shelter and clothing? Are they all legally enforceable rights? Where do these “rights” derive from? What country are we living in? Is it one that the Founders would recognize? Here was Dodd, getting misty about Ted with guest host Lawrence O’Donnell, and describing a “right” some of us didn’t realize existed . . . View video...

SUBPRIME MORTGAGE CRISIS HITS WHOREHOUSESMarch 3, 2010 It looks like Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes is on track to win another endorsement from ACORN! This week, Hynes announced that "no criminality has been found" after his investigation of the videotapes made by investigative journalists James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, which show ACORN employees counseling the pair on getting a mortgage for a house of prostitution. (They got a choice of government loans: Phat Fannie Mae, Prince Freddie Mac or Barney Fresh Daddy Frank ... aka "Sir Fix-A-Lot.") I'm just glad to know that Hynes conducted a thorough "investigation" first. Who...

First we all learn the truth about Man-made Global Warming; now comes the truth about the housing bubble and its collapse: We are hearing lots of jokes about the Obamaites continuing to blame Bush for all the ills of America here in the year 2010. What has been swept under the rug, though, is the real blame for the economic meltdown of 2008 – the policies and the corruption of liberal Democrats who first imposed the Community Reinvestment Act that was the proximate cause of the housing bubble, and then the actions of Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and Barack Obama...

[THE LINK WORKS ON THIS ONE] When President Obama was asked last week about the $17 million bonus awarded to JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon and the $9 million bonus for Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein he responded by saying, Hmmm...that doesn't jibe with what he said last December on 60 Minutes: "I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street." And it doesn't jibe with the message delivered to banks by Barney Frank, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, in January of 2009: "People...

BY ANDREW LARSON REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN WOLCOTT — It happened in Massachusetts. Could it happen here? In light of last week's election of Scott P. Brown, a little-known Republican state senator, to fill the U.S. Senate seat held for decades by the late Edward Kennedy, that's a question GOP leaders and political hopefuls in Connecticut want to answer in the affirmative. No one has pondered the question as deeply as Brown's younger brother, Wolcott resident Bruce W. Browne, 43. Browne, who declined to say why he spells his last name differently, may try to follow his brother's lead. Last Tuesday, Republicans and...

Chris Dodd ever the dutiful democrat is working hard to push through Obamacare despite his retirement announcement. Of course this legislation is diametrically opposed to the best interests of his home state, as Connecticut is home to many insurance companies. Dodd's health care plans may be a death knell to a major industry in his home state further alienating voters from the Senator. Dodd was on CNBC today and gave some answers that reveal why he was in trouble in the polls before he "was retired" Health care reform is "hanging on by a thread," and one or two votes...

Health care reform is "hanging on by a thread," and one or two votes could determine the outcome of the heavily-debated bill, Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd told CNBC Monday. "Everyone feels, I guess, to some degree who have been for this, that they would have liked something different, and that's not uncommon when you're considering an issue of this magnitude," Dodd said. Some progressives, for example, are disappointed that the Senate bill, unlike the House version, does not include a public option, he said. Senators Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas are two people who voted for...

Senate Majority leader Harry Reid apologized today for, private conversation during the campaign, in which Reid, while attempting to speak favorably of Obama, reportedly said the nation was ready for a black President, especially one who is “light-skinned” and has “no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.” I deeply regret using such a poor choice of words. I sincerely apologize for offending any and all Americans, especially African Americans for my improper comments,” Reid stated, before highlighting his support for Obama, efforts to integrate the Strip and promote diversity in the Senate. The President Instantly accepted Reid's Apology....

The retirement of U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd adds another jolt of excitement to the already electrifying 2010 election campaign in Connecticut A politically wounded Dodd announced Wednesday he is dropping his bid for a record-breaking sixth term in the Senate. "This is my moment to step aside," Dodd said, standing outside his East Haddam home on a bluff overlooking a partly frozen Connecticut River. The departure of Dodd, 65, cleared the way for Attorney General Richard Blumenthal to pursue his long-held dream of becoming a U.S. senator. Blumenthal declared his candidacy for the Democratic nomination a couple of hours...

Sen. Christopher Dodd's retirement announcement on Wednesday had that rarest of traits in modern politics: a note of honesty. "There's nothing more pathetic, in my view, than a politician who announces they're only leaving public life to spend more time with their family," the Democrat said as he stood outside his Connecticut house. His 4-year-old daughter, in her mother's arms, reached out to touch his shoulder during the brief speech, and his 8-year-old daughter stood on his other side as he admitted that "these young ladies are not the reason for my decision." Everybody knew the real reason: The old...

Election 2010: The back-to-back Senate retirements of Byron Dorgan and Chris Dodd may be just the beginning. The people have seen the future of health care reform and found it doesn't work. Apres moi, le deluge. We don't know what the Mayan calendar says about 2010, but it's starting to look like the end of the world for Democratic electoral prospects. Americans who watched in shock as government tried to step between them and their doctors, may have the last laugh. The tea party isn't over until the angry mob votes. As rage grew over the attempt to nationalize one-sixth...