–

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was likely as glad as anybody in the recession-weary U.S. to see the calendar flip to 2010. Last year, the Government Accountability Office–and pretty much everyone else–eviscerated the SEC for its failure to detect and prevent the breakdowns that contributed to the recession. But just a little more than two weeks before the ball dropped in Times Square, the House passed a bill containing elements charged with rekindling public trust in the beleaguered agency.