41 Republicans 'Very Likely' to Block Financial Regulation if No Compromise by Monday

April 25, 2010— -- A leading Republican involved in the Senate's regulatory reform legislation says that unless there is a bipartisan compromise before Monday's expected procedural vote, he expects his party will "very likely" hold its 41 votes together to block the measure.

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tennessee, told "This Week" anchor Jake Tapper that "41 Republicans in my opinion would block it unless we reached this agreement."

As discussions between Senate Democrats and Republicans continue Sunday, Corker said he was hopeful that a compromise could be reached.

Corker also says he plans to introduce a provision that would punish officials of failed institutions that fall into the federal government's resolution authority by "clawing back," or taking earnings from those officials for the five years prior to the failure.

Corker said, "If a large entity like this has to go through this resolution where in essence they're liquidated in an orderly way, I think that everything that the executive team and the board members have earned through this company over the last five years needs to be clawed back.

"In other words, there needs to be some penalties assessed to the management that have caused the country to have to go through this orderly liquidation process," Corker said.

White House Economic Adviser Austan Goolsbee, who also appeared on "This Week," stopped short of endorsing the idea, but said the president supports provisions in the bill that would cost officials from failed institutions their jobs.

"There is a requirement that they're all fired," Goolsbee said. "If you get to that point, all the management is fired."