The drive for financial reform in DC seems to be fast losing momentum. Enter Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren, who has long been an advocate for working families and a critic of predatory lending. As chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the finance bailout—Capitol Hill’s top finance cop—she, along with TARP watchdog Neil Barofsky, has blasted wasteful bailout spending and the finance industry’s lack of accountability. But her top goal is the creation of a Consumer Finance Safety Commission that would do for loans what the Consumer Products Safety Commission does for toys and blenders. The White House has endorsed her proposal, but will Wall Street kill it in Congress? David Corn has the story—plus some intriguing dish on Warren’s rapport with White House adviser Larry Summers.
