CQ Staff: “The House Financial Services Committee approved creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA), marking a big win for many Democrats and consumer advocates. The measure (HR 3126) — a central piece of the Obama administration’s financial overhaul plan — would create a new federal regulator with broad powers to police large swaths of the economy, including credit cards, home mortgages and pay-day lenders. Support for the new agency has grown after hundreds of thousands of subprime borrowers lost their homes, triggering one of the worst recessions in decades.”