Senate Banking lays out agenda

By Peter Schroeder - 02/12/13 02:17 PM ET

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) unveiled his panel's agenda for the 113th Congress, saying the committee will focus on Dodd-Frank, the housing market, and promoting economic growth over the next two years.

In a memo, Johnson laid out his vision for the committee's workload, and emphasized that he would focus on crafting bipartisan agreements.

"This committee has a proud tradition of bipartisanship, and I am hopeful that we can continue to build on our successes of the last two years," he said in a statement.

Specifically, the panel will spend much of the 113th continuing to oversee the implementation of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, as regulators finish writing rules implementing provisions and begin putting it to work. In particular, he said the committee will continue to closely monitor the work of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Financial Stability Oversight Council, two new regulatory bodies created by the law.

In addition, the panel will be watching how regulators implement the "Volcker Rule," a contentious, complicated provision that aims at preventing banks from engaging in risky trading activities.

On housing, the committee will also have a busy slate. Johnson said the committee will keep a close eye on the troubled finances of the Federal Housing Administration. He also wants to search for "bipartisan consensus" on a way to reform the housing finance market, an issue that has bedeviled lawmakers ever since Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac collapsed and required billions in government assistance to stay afloat.

Other items on the agenda will include identifying ways to improve economic growth in rural areas and land occupied by Native Americans, as well as reauthorizing programs set to expire in the next two years, including the Export-Import Bank and the Native American Housing and Self-Determination Act.

Johnson also vowed that his committee will "expeditiously" weigh nominations sent to the panel by President Obama. Two are already in the pipeline, as the president has nominated Mary Jo White to head the Securities and Exchange Commission and Richard Cordray to stay on as director of the CFPB.

However, that latter nomination has already run into roadblocks, as Republican senators have vowed to block the pick until structural changes are made to the agency, which they believe is unaccountable to Congress.