Conrad: Without reserve financial reg bill breaks paygo rules

Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) on Wednesday told The Hill that the financial reform bill will be $17 billion short in complying with paygo rules if leaders pull from the legislation the $50 billion reserve fund for liquidating failing firms.

"They would need something like another $17 billion," he said. 

Lawmakers would replace the loss in revenue to ensure the bill complies with recently passed statutory paygo rules, Conrad said. 

News reports say Senate Banking Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and the committee's ranking Republican, Richard Shelby (Ala.), have agreed to pull the fund to allow the bill to be amended on the Senate floor. However, the FDIC will still be charged with unwinding failing firms, but it won't be funded by the reserve.