After the Senate passage of the Dodd reform bill (S.3217) on Thursday, aside from beginning the process of reconciliation with the companion legislation passed by the House, action on Capitol Hill slows down considerably this week, although there are a few committee hearings of interest.
On Tuesday, May 25 the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold Hearings to examine the liability and financial responsibility issues related to offshore oil production, including the Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico, including S. 3346, to increase the limits on liability under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. Then on May 27, the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee will resume its hearings to examine the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on small businesses.
Also on May 25, the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee holds hearings to examine the financial state of the airline industry and the implications of consolidation.
And speaking of the Dodd bill it seems that despite the doom and gloom from lobbyists and their allies in Congress that the reform legislation would torpedo economic growth, many informed observers now seem to think the bill would cut into Wall Street's profit picture, but not mess with its size or power. A report in the New York Times indicated that the markets agree with that assessment since on Friday stocks of financial institutions performed well, with shares of JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley each up 5%.
