Senior Dem: Obama will have financial reform by Easter

President Barack Obama will likely have a financial regulation reform bill to sign by Easter, a senior Democrat said Friday.

Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.), a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee and chairman of its Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises subcommittee, said the Senate is likely to finish its bill early next year, with a target of finishing the bill in early April.

"We're going to get our bill through, of course, today," he said during an appearance on CNBC. "The Senate is working on a bill, they probably should be able to get it out by, oh I don't know, say, no later than St. Patrick's Day, but maybe even around the State of the Union time."

He said that after the Senate finished its work, things would move quickly.

"Then we'll go to a quick conference and then put the bills together and probably have them before the president's desk before Easter," he said.

(The Easter holiday is April 4, 2010.)

Kanjorski predicted that many elements of the House financial reform bill would stay intact, including the controversial Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

"I would have to be honest and say the House bill is probably a firmer bill and is taking many more actions to try and prevent what happened last year from happening again," the Pennsylvania Democrat said.

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