Reactions to House Financial Reform Bill

House passes a "landmark" bill: celebrations and warnings

This afternoon, the House of Representatives passed a Democratic bill aiming to tighten federal regulation of the financial sector. The Associated Press calls the proposal a "sweeping overhaul of financial regulations." So is it time for Democrats and populists to pop open the champagne? The passage of the landmark bill is impressive, say bloggers, but there's a rough road ahead. Here are the first reactions:

• Dems: Watch Out for Republicans  Ernie Smith says "Repub­li­cans largely didn't go for the bill because they feared it would limit credit, force job losses and lead to future bailout. They also argued that 'too big to fail' com­pa­nies didn't need hand-holding and could han­dle bank­rupt­cies." But Smith thinks that "sounds less like some­thing they believe and more like some­thing they can use against the Democ­rats."

• Senate Will Be Tough  The Washington Post's Ezra Klein predicts that "what you're going to hear from everybody," as the reactions flow in, "is some variation of 'the Senate will be harder.'"

• 'Landmark' Bill May Not Survive in Current Form  Though "the legislation is extremely ambitious," says The Atlantic's own Daniel Indiviglio, "I would expect this bill to be watered down significantly for it to get through [the Senate]. Remember, the bill only passed by a measly five votes in the House." Currently, the massive overhaul "seeks to create a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) to regulate consumer credit products, to create a systemic risk council, to provide the Federal Reserve the authority to function as the systemic risk regulator, to create a non-bank resolution authority, to provide better oversight of the derivatives market, and to reshape the financial market as we know it today."

• Financial System Still Bad  The current bunch of populists are a tough crowd to please. Case in point: Harry Moroz. Writing at The Huffington Post, Moroz says "the financial reform bill codifies into law a financial system that will always be on the brink of destruction."