Gregg: Dem Wall St. bill 'making us more like Europe'

Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) on Wednesday slammed the Democratic effort to overhaul Wall Street, saying it hurts the country's financial system and helps foreign countries. "This bill should be named the 'Expansion of Government for the Purposes of Making Us More Like Europe Act,'" Gregg said. Gregg took aim specifically at an amendment backed by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) that seeks to delay a ban on banks trading derivatives in-house. The original ban was authored by Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.). Gregg said the Dodd amendment makes the legislation worse by putting in place an "even more convoluted system" to decide on the prohibition. A council of regulators, headed by the Treasury Secretary, would have a year to review the prohibition and could decided to scrap the ban entirely. Federal regulators, including Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, have already opposed the provision.