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The House easily passed a bill yesterday designed to encourage companies to share details of computer breaches with the federal government, one of several initiatives from policy makers responding to the spate of increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The bill passed 307-116, backed by a majority of both Republicans and Democrats, and now moves to the Senate. But in a reflection of widespread political anxiety about a new government data-collection effort, lawmakers bucked the bill’s author and required that the measure phase out in seven years. U.S. policy makers have struggled to address the growing problem of data breaches at major U.S. companies and government agencies, overwhelmed by the scale of the attacks and hamstrung by infighting over how to respond. The White House, State Department and Pentagon, along with entities including Target Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. and Anthem Inc. have suffered embarrassing breaches, prompting calls for new strategies. In addition to legislation, federal officials are readying steps to both deter attacks and better protect companies from future breaches.

Democrats in Congress are uniting around a proposal to raise the federal minimum wage to $12 an hour, the New York Times reported today. Within the next several days, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) plans to introduce a bill to increase the minimum wage, in steps, from its current level of $7.25 to $12 by 2020. The measure has little chance of passing the Republican-controlled Congress in the near future, but it is the latest indication of Democrats’ rising ambitions for lifting the wage floor. The party is determined to elevate the issue in next year’s congressional and presidential elections.

For Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the Dodd-Frank financial reform law was an important first step to taming financial markets, and yesterday she laid out a series of bold next steps for financial reform that could provide a road map for the Democratic Party in 2016, the National Journal reported today. Warren said yesterday that opponents of financial regulation often pit the argument as between being pro-market and supporting deregulation versus being anti-market and supporting more regulation. "The so-called choice gets it wrong. Rules are not the enemy of markets," Warren said. "Without basic government regulation, financial markets don't work. People get ripped off, risk-taking explodes and the markets blow up." She proposed ending “too big to fail” through two methods: capping the size of largest financial institutions, and creating a modern version of Glass-Steagall to separate commercial and investment banking. She also proposed limiting emergency lending to troubled institutions by the Federal Reserve. Read more.

Hear more of Sen. Warren’s thoughts on regulation, economy and 2016 elections tonight as she provides the opening remarks at the opening reception of ABI’s 33rd Annual Spring Meeting. Still time to register! 

The House passed legislation yesterday to modify regulations for home mortgages established in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street overhaul, The Hill reported today. H.R. 650, passed 263-162, would alter the definition of "high cost" mortgages for mobile homes, also known as manufactured housing. The bill would allow the first mortgage on a principal home to be exempted from a "high cost" classification if the annual percentage rate (APR) isn't more than ten percent of the average prime offer rate; if the transaction doesn't total more than $75,000; and if the mortgage points and fees paid aren't more than $3,000. Rep. Steven Fincher (R-Tenn.), the bill's sponsor, argued that current mortgage regulations from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau made it difficult for low-income Americans to obtain mortgages for mobile homes. The White House issued a veto threat against the bill, arguing it would allow lenders to raise the cost of loans even if consumers cannot afford to repay them. Another bill (H.R. 658) passed 286-140, would exclude the cost of title insurance from points and fees on loans. It would also establish that funds held in escrow for property insurance payments aren't considered points and fees.

A news analysis on page one of Friday's Wall Street Journal took note of reservations some on the left have about Hillary Clinton's latest bid for the White House, expressing disappointment or even anger about her Senate votes to authorize the Iraq war, or free trade, or support of Wall Street interests. Liberals are particularly critical of her 2001 vote in favor of pro-creditor bankruptcy reform, promoted by the credit card industry. As First Lady, Clinton opposed a similar bill, but asserted that the version she supported had been improved. Critics at the time included then-Prof. (now Senator) Elizabeth Warren, who claimed that the Senator from New York was too cozy with banking interests. "Big banks were now a part of Sen. Clinton's constituency," Warren wrote in a 2003 book. "She wanted their support, and they wanted hers." While that bill failed to become law, a similar measure (BAPCPA) passed in 2005. Sen. Clinton missed the vote on final passage of BAPCPA, and later said she would have voted no. During her 2008 primary run, she said she regretted the 2001 support.