Washington has always helped set rules for Wall Street

[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/POLITICS/10/18/john.king.monday.memo/art.wall.street.generic.afp.gi.jpg caption="Republicans say the new financial legislation would allow the federal government to control decisions in the private sector on Wall Street"]

Julian E. Zelizer
Special to CNN

On Sunday, Sens. Chris Dodd and Richard Shelby said that they were close to a bipartisan compromise on financial regulation, which could be reached as early as this week.

Yet many Republicans are attacking the regulations by painting them as yet another example of big government taking over private markets. Even if the bill will likely pass, GOP leaders are planning to use this floor debate to raise philosophical concerns about the role of government in economic life.

As with health care, these Republicans said, the legislation would allow the federal government to control financial decisions in the private sector on Wall Street and squelch private initiative. In The Washington Post, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has called the Obama-Reid-Pelosi team a "secular-socialist machine."

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