From The Washington Times:

The consumer protection bureau, to be part of the Federal Reserve, and the financial research office, proposed within the Treasury Department, could gather information on financial transactions right down to consumers' loans, according to critics, who said this is the first time the government would cast such a wide net.

"They both have sweeping authority to collect information about financial transactions, and there's little to ensure they aren't going to collect detailed information, personal financial transactions," said Jim Harper, director of information-policy studies at the Cato Institute.

With data-mining tools growing ever more powerful, he said, the best solution is to stop the government from collecting the information in the first place.

Senate aides and Republican operatives helping to coordinate strategy off Capitol Hill said they have prepared multiple amendments to reel in both agencies.

Democratic staffers on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee didn't return messages, but during floor debate last week, Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, Connecticut Democrat, who is chairman of the committee and wrote most of the Senate's bill, called those charges "totally false" and said opponents are trying to hook onto anything that could tarnish the legislation. More here.