Dodd: Time -- not negotiations impasse -- is reason to go it alone on financial overhaul

Time constraints, not friction with Republican negotiators, caused Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) to release his financial regulatory reform bill on his own, he said Thursday.

Dodd said that frequent scheduled recesses and the pressures of getting a finished product in an election year coaxed him to break off negotiations with Republican Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and refer a bill to his committee.

"The real problem I'm facing is that clock," Dodd said at a press conference on Capitol Hill. "You can appreciate in an election year what happens, that 101st senator can wreak havoc."

Corker, Dodd's negotiating partner for the past month blamed the pressure from the White House and Democratic leaders to finish healthcare reform legislation for Dodd's decision to release his bill on Monday.

Corker appeared to be disappointed about Dodd's choice during a press conference earlier on Thursday.

"Never did I realize that healthcare would affect financial regulation," Corker said in a press conference Thursday morning. "I knew that tensions would exist, but I never expected it would affect the calendar the way that it did."

But Dodd was more upbeat than Corker, saying that "This is not a reflection of the negotiations breaking down. Quite the contrary,the process is moving on very very well."

Talks between Dodd and Banking Committee Ranking Member Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) broke down early last month. The former was careful to say that negotiations between him and Corker was not the root of his decision.

The retiring senator still expressed hope that his panel could craft a consensus bill.

Even though Dodd stressed the need for speed, he refused to set deadlines to put the finishing touches on the bill.

"I'm more interested in getting this right than getting it by a certain date," he said.

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