Meet the Banking Caucus, Wall Street's secret weapon in Washington

Lawmakers help industry donors beat back tougher rules

By Daniel Wagner, Alison Fitzgerald - 6:00 am, April 24, 2014 Updated: 10:11 pm, April 24, 2014

The lawmakers were at an impasse.

More than two hours into a meeting of the House Financial Services Committee last month, the members were bickering over two versions of a bill designed to ease a new regulation that affected banks, part of the sweeping 2010 overhaul of financial laws known as the Dodd-Frank Act.

The dispute? Whether to give the banks everything they asked for, or whether to give them even more.