Dodd Trying Again With Wall Street Reform, Vows Passage This Year

Senate Democrats have not given up on pushing through a major overhaul of the way the federal government polices Wall Street and other financial institutions.

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, offered a revised "Restoring American Financial Stability" bill Monday and vowed, "We will have financial reform adopted this year," The Hill newspaper reported.

Dodd's legislation gives more power to the Federal Reserve to oversee bank holding companies and creates a system to avoid taxpayer-funded bailouts of the financial industry -- signaling an end to the too-big-to-fail line of thinking. His bill would also set up a consumer protection bureau, but not as a separate agency. The bureau would fall under the Fed.

The legislation would also give corporate shareholders a "say on pay," including the right to a non-binding vote on executive compensation. It would require more disclosure of exotic financial instruments such as derivatives and would create a new program at the Securities and Exchange Commission, aiding whistleblowers who expose wrongdoing.

AOL News said Dodd still hopes to pick up some Republican support for his new plan, despite abandoning earlier attempts at bipartisanship. The bill could face a vote in the banking committee late next week.