Posted: 3/4/2010
The Federal Affairs Team
The difference a year makes. We are faced with a fundamentally different economic, regulatory, political, and legislative environment now than we were just 12 short months ago. When 2009 began we were watching history in the making. After an historic election in 2008, President Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States. On his coattails, rode enormous Democratic majorities in the House and the Senate – in the upper chamber they eventually reached a filibuster-stopping 60 votes – and the party was ready with an incredibly ambitious agenda. Right out of the gate he took on a massive stimulus bill, cap-and-trade legislation, healthcare reform, and a comprehensive overhaul of the nation’s financial services regulatory structure.