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One of the things that has many people steamed right now is the fact that, while personal bankruptcy is on the rise, big banks have been getting special help staying afloat from the taxpayers via the government. These policies started in the Bush Administration, and have continued in the present Obama Administration. However, Congress is trying to do something to prevent so much help going to prop up the financial system in the future. President Obama has been pushing Congress to engage in bank reform, but the deal is far from done — even as the House and the Senate wrangle about what should be done.

CNN Money offers three major points of controversy that could serve to derail bank reform:

1. Role played by the Federal Reserve: Here is what CNN Money reports about the difference in how the Fed is regarded:The House proposes stripping away the Fed’s consumer protection powers, leaving in place its banking regulatory powers. In fact, the House would make the Fed the principal overseer of financial firms tied to the global economy.

   The Senate, by contrast, would limit the Fed’s powers to mostly monetary policy. Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., is proposing stripping the Fed of its banking regulatory authority and giving that power to a new consolidated agency.

2. What to do with companies that are “too big to fail”: This issue is an important one, since large companies found that they could avoid true accountability for their actions for being so large that their failure could bring down everything. Here is what CNN Money reports on how this might be handled:
   The White House and congressional Democrats want to create a mechanism for monitoring large financial firms, like American International Group (AIG, Fortune 500), and unwinding them with a new power called “resolution authority.”

   Both chambers would charge the Federal Deposit of Insurance Corp. with such unwinding. But some lawmakers from both parties are worried about giving such broad powers to the executive branch.

   A related – and contentious – debate is emerging over whether a government agency should have the power to break up companies that could threaten the economy before they do damage.

3. Consumer protection agency for finances: The White House wants an agency that oversees financial consumer protection in the case of financial products and services. Here is CNN Money’s take on this issue:
   The agency faces a more familiar problem for financial-related legislation in Congress: opposition from the minority party and big business. That push-back could be a deal breaker in the Senate.

   The agency would put new regulators in charge of keeping an eye out for consumers, while requiring more disclosure and scrutiny over some of the financial products, like mortgages, credit cards and auto loans, that contributed to last year’s crisis.

   A wave of populism propelled credit card legislation earlier this year. But Republicans are mostly united against the creation of the consumer agency, calling it an added layer of bureaucracy that could threaten bank soundness.

Clearly, there is going to need to be a delicate balancing act in order to make effective regulation that halts problems, but doesn’t cross the line of being overly restrictive to the markets.