The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday approved the biggest changes in financial regulation since the Great Depression of the 1930s, marking a victory for the Obama administration and congressional Democrats. With the Senate scheduled to debate similar reforms in January, the House of Representatives voted 223 to 202 to pass the legislation, a package of measures President Barack Obama's fellow Democrats drafted in response to the global financial crisis. No Republicans voted in favor of the bill. The legislation would create an inter-agency council to monitor systemic risk in the economy, crack down on hedge funds and credit-rating agencies, establish a financial consumer advocacy agency, and expose Federal Reserve monetary policy to unprecedented congressional scrutiny.
