LEGISLATION More Hedge Fund ...
Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) proposed legislation that would subject hedge funds to stricter oversight and routine inspections, reinstating rules struck down by a federal court last year. The measure would require hedge fund managers with at least 15 investors and more than $50 million in assets to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission.</br></br>Sens. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), right, introduced a bill that would outlaw some credit-card billing and interest-rate practices that critics say confuse consumers and can push them deeper into debt.</br></br>The bill would prohibit charging interest on any portion of a credit card debt that a customer pays in a grace period. It also would limit "penalty increases" in interest rates, which are imposed when a payment is made after the due date, and ban universal default, in which credit card issuers raise interest rates for customers because they're late on payments to other creditors.</br></br>The House voted 411 to 3 to delay a pilot Transportation Department plan to allow Mexican trucks full access to U.S. highways. The trucks would have to be declared safe first, the lawmakers said, and Mexico would have to give U.S. truckers the same access south of the border.</br></br>The pilot program would restrict opening the border to 100 carriers based in Mexico allowed to use a maximum of 1,000 vehicles.