The "outside of the box" proposals to support lending and investment that the likes of Adam Posen have discussed would inevitably muddy the dividing line between government and central bank.

BBC: Why the world envies Mr Osborne

We know there are aspects of small business lending -- zero capital gains for small business and the retrofit proposals that the President has made -- that he now wants to see also go through Congress.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing

It's most significant step: Several proposals in December that ban "unfair or deceptive" practices, such as lending to borrowers who cannot repay a loan and doing away with prepayment penalties that harm borrowers.

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Before the vote Thursday, bank interests had already successfully knocked back proposals that would have taken away their power to assert federal preemption over tougher state lending and consumer protection laws, something they spent the better part of the 1990s litigating.

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