U.s. Financial System, U.s. Financial System Overhaul | featured news

Bernanke called on Congress to act on financial reform efforts, as the central bank itself works to implement a number of measures that should help shore up the financial system.

Some senators criticize a plan that would give the Federal Reserve more power to police large companies.

The Obama administration's aggressive plan for strict scrutiny of hedge funds and other freewheeling investors, part of the biggest expansion of financial restraints since the Great Depression, is drawing instant opposition from Republican lawmakers and the rules' targets. And skeptics are questioning whether the new rulebook would work anyway.

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner plans to propose today a sweeping expansion of federal authority over the financial system, breaking from an era in which the government stood back from financial markets and allowed participants to decide how much risk to take in the pursuit of profit.