Lawmakers reached a final deal on a Wall Street reform bill early Friday morning after Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) agreed to a compromise with House Democrats on her derivatives regulation bill – clearing the way for the broadest rewrite of the nation’s financial regulations since the Great Depression. The legislation would create a powerful new consumer financial protection bureau, limit the fees debit-card companies can charge merchants, give the government the power to break up failing financial firms and force transparency of the massive derivatives market.
