Obama to Remake Powers of Fed: Report

President Barack Obama is expected Wednesday to propose a reorganization of financial-market supervision, including a move to remake powers of the Federal Reserve to oversee the biggest financial players, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The Obama plan also would give the government the power to unwind and break up systemically important companies and create a new regulator for consumer-oriented financial products, the Journal reports, citing people involved in the process.

The plan doesn't call for the complete consolidation of power that some lawmakers have been angling toward, the newspaper reports. The plan will allow several agencies to continue supervising banks and it won't place specific limits on the size or scope of financial institutions.

Once Obama unveils the proposal, Congress would have to pass legislation to enact the changes. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is scheduled to appear before both Senate and House panels on Thursday.

Lawmakers are expected to take issue with several areas of the plan, including how to create a system that won't simply bail out large financial companies when they topple. Giving the Fed more clout also will be a controversial idea, the Journal notes.