File photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images Updated 2:45 p.m. ET| Longtime Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., announced Monday he will not seek re-election in 2012, ending a career that stretched more than three decades fighting for liberal causes. Frank revealed his…

The U.S. government would be given broad new powers to shrink financial firms deemed "too big to fail" and shift the cost of rescuing troubled companies from taxpayers to other large firms, according to draft legislation released Tuesday.

Telling lawmakers that the U.S. financial system has grown "too unstable and fragile," Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner rolled out the Obama administration's plans Thursday for a massive overhaul of the government's financial oversight role.

President Barack Obama said Monday that he intends to stop American International Group from paying out millions in executive bonuses, as concern intensified over the insurance giant's handling of federal rescue money.

The House on Monday defeated a $700 billion emergency rescue package, ignoring pleas from President Bush and bipartisan congressional leaders to bail out the financial industry, while the Dow Jones industrial average lost more than 700 points.