Can Lawmakers Now Afford To Be Obstacles To Reform?

Washington has its own version of the business cycle: when times are good, get rid of pesky regulations that companies complain are holding them back; when things turn sour, start crying for rules. No legislator wants to appear to be blocking reform now, especially in an election year, but previous efforts have faded away when the headlines did. Here are four areas of reform and the hurdles they face.

--By Mitch Frank. With reporting by Sally B. Donnelly/Washington

AUDITING LAWS

"We were wrong." When Senator Bob Torricelli of New Jersey said those words in a hearing last Thursday, it marked a...

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