Back in Washington, the Senate Banking Committee begins debate today on a financial regulation measure unveiled by Senator Christopher Dodd last week. Dodd’s proposal gives new power to the Federal Reserve while gutting the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency and housing it inside the Fed. On Friday, Dodd said he would change a key provision on emergency loans after Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chair Sheila Bair warned it could lead to “backdoor bailouts.” Ahead of the Senate Banking Committee session, President Obama urged lawmakers to support Dodd’s bill.

President Obama: “The fact is, it’s now been well over a year since the near collapse of the entire financial system, a crisis that helped wipe out more than eight million jobs and that continues to exact a terrible toll throughout our economy. Yet today, the very same system that allowed this turmoil remains in place. No one disputes that. No one denies that reform is needed. So the question we have to answer is very simple: will we learn from this crisis, or will we condemn ourselves to repeat it?”

Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke, meanwhile, has called on US lawmakers to consider reviewing the existence of firms deemed “too big to fail.” In a speech to the Independent Community Bankers of America, Bernanke said, “It is unconscionable that the fate of the world economy should be so closely tied to the fortunes of a relatively small number of giant financial firms.”