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Finally someone with the guts to speak out against the Obama Administration for dragging their feet on the real cause of the Economic Collapse -- and believe it or not - it's a Democrat. Thank you Senator Cantwell!

White House Accused Of Foot-Dragging On Swap Rules

May 8, 2009 12:35:51 (ET)   By Martin Vaughan   Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)

--A Democratic senator accused the Obama administration of "slow-walking" plans for tighter regulation of financial instruments known as derivatives.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said it is taking far too long for the Obama administration to put forward a proposal to regulate credit-default swaps and other exotic instruments. She pressed Neal Wolin, President Barack Obama's nominee for Deputy Treasury Secretary, for details on when the Treasury would put that proposal forward. Her comments came at a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee to consider Wolin's nomination.

The lack of action to date "gives everybody the indication that the administration is slow-walking needed regulatory oversight for something that caused the biggest financial crisis for decades," Cantwell said. Investment strategies at insurer American International Group Inc. (AIG) involving credit-default swaps helped send the financial industry into a tailspin.

Cantwell noted that Wolin was serving as general counsel at the Treasury Department in 2000 when the Commodity Futures Modernization Act passed, which exempted over-the-counter derivatives from regulation.

Wolin demurred when pressed for a precise timeline of when the Treasury will put forward a framework for regulating the instruments. He said he believes such a framework should include aggregate position limits, regulate dealers, and improve price transparency.

"There's no question that the derivatives market...requires substantially more regulation," Wolin told the Finance panel.

According to media reports, Cantwell has already held up Senate action on one nominee, Gary Gensler for chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, who has been criticized for going along with lax oversight of swaps and derivatives. A spokeswoman for Cantwell couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

-By Martin Vaughan, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9244; martin.vaughan@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires