Corker: Financial regulatory reform bill has seeds of compromise

The financial regulatory reform bill working its way through the Senate Banking Committee offers great potential for bipartisan compromise, one of the panel's top Republicans said Wednesday.

Although Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) stressed he could neither grandly endorse nor flatly reject the proposal, which Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) officially unveiled yesterday, the Tennessee Republican described the effort as much more forward-thinking than Democrats' healthcare reform work, which he suggested was "selfish."

"I think this is actually a place where... we may begin acting like leaders, acting responsibly," Corker told CNBC in an interview. "There's nothing partisan about financial regulation."

"I think this is that opportunity to act in the intelligent interest of our country," he added.

The 1,136-page draft Dodd unveiled on Tuesday contains a host of provisions that would tighten financial regulatory controls in the aftermath of last year's economic meltdown. It would also establish a new office to oversee traditionally independent bodies like the Federal Reserve, and it would create a consumer protection board to regulate products like credit cards and home mortgages.

That last component, however, has proven especially troubling to Senate Republicans. While the Obama administration supports the creation of a consumer agency, some GOPers have argued it could prove too bureaucratic and overreaching to be effective.

"The consumer protection piece is on steroids and needs to be beaten back, and it's my hope that we will do that," Corker affirmed on Wednesday, noting he did agree with other sections of the draft.

Ultimately, Corker was very supportive of Dodd's work, despite the initial criticism some in his own partied hurled at the draft earlier this week. He also used the proposal's introduction as a way to take a shot at Democrats' healthcare reforms, which he said "not a single Democrat would vote for" if a hypothetical GOP majority introduced the exact same proposal to any chamber of Congress.

"It is my belief that, right now, we have the most selfish, political leadership our country has ever seen [and] a lack of courage to make tough decisions," Corker said, before his satellite feed unexpectedly cut out.

"We do things in this body today to get ourselves re-elected," he said when his feed returned, "and we're not looking toward the future. I hope at least on this financial regulation piece we will act responsibly."

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