Lobbyists Mass to Try to Shape Financial Reform

WASHINGTON — Kicking off the latest chapter of this year’s Full Employment Act for K Street Lobbyists, representatives from a surfeit of industries descended on an influential Congressional committee on Wednesday as it began writing a law overhauling the nation’s regulatory system.

In a lobbying season already booming with business from battles over health care, firms are also closely monitoring the debate over Washington’s response to the market crisis. The financial services industry has poured more than $220 million into lobbying in 2009, much of it in anticipation of this Congressional effort now beginning. As usual for major financial services legislation, lawmakers have heard an earful from small community banks and large Wall Street banks, as well as from insurance companies, credit card companies, credit unions, mutual funds and hedge funds.

But since virtually every imaginable company could be touched by the comprehensive legislation proposed by the Obama administration, the surprisingly broad array of lobbyists trooping to Capitol Hill also includes advocates for airlines, pawnbrokers, real estate developers, farmers, car dealers, manufacturers, retailers and energy and telephone companies. They want to make sure any new oversight of the financial system does not lead to tighter regulations of their businesses or make it more expensive for them to finance their operations or hedge their risks.

Other groups are lobbying over whether the rules should be changed to make it easier to sue corporations and their advisers and whether restrictions should be eased to enable shareholders to have a greater say in the election of directors and the pay of senior executives.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/15/business/15regulate.html?th&emc=th