Rep. Schumer helped block regulation of ratings agencies.

TPM:

We told you last month about the role of the credit ratings agencies in helping to cause the financial crisis. A major part of the problem, in a nutshell, is that the major ratings agencies -- Moody's, Standard & Poor's, and Fitch -- are paid by the institutions (often investment banks) who are issuing the bonds. That gives the agencies a clear incentive to produce favorable ratings, or risk seeing the banks hire a different ratings agency that's willing to offer a better rating.

But over the weekend, in a profile of Sen. Chuck Schumer, the New York Times revealed that the veteran New York Democratic lawmaker -- who, with seats on both the finance and banking committees, has built a reputation as a key ally of the financial sector, a major industry in his home state -- played a major role in stymieing efforts to fix that problem.
Read on.