WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's plan to increase oversight of banks and other financial institutions ran into skepticism Thursday on Capitol Hill where senators sharply questioned whether it was enough to prevent another economic meltdown. The lack of a ringing endorsement suggests the proposal was headed for a rewrite by a Congress sensitive to voter frustration with the government's handling of the economy.
"They're very angry, and they are worried. And they are wondering who's looking out for them," Sen. Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said of his constituents.
Lawmakers mostly agreed that change was needed to streamline federal regulation and fill in oversight gaps believed to have contributed to the housing and credit crisis. Several Democrats also lauded the proposed creation of a new consumer-protection agency that would police the market for deceptive business practices in such financial products as credit cards and mortgages.