"Let me be clear - we are still vulnerable to another crisis," Dodd told reporters in the Capitol. "It is certainly time to act."

Dodd's bill does not go as far as other plans from Democrats. For example, his plan for a new consumer financial watchdog would not be a stand-alone new agency that the House approved last last year.

Instead, the watchdog would be housed at the Federal Reserve, though it would have a director appointed by the President.

As for the reaction of critics like the banking industry and the business community, it was about as expected.

"This bill takes three steps backwards," said David Hirschmann of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

"It's time for Congress to put politics aside and come together on a bipartisan basis to restore confidence and certainty to the markets."

Dodd's bill is 1,336 pages of some highly technical legislative text.

The bill would try to regulate the 'swaps market', which came under focus after trading in derivatives helped lead to the 2008 Wall Street Collapse.

"Trading more derivatives on regulated exchanges should be encouraged," reads the bill on page 495, though the details were said to be less stringent by financial experts than previous bills.

Dodd wants to push forward on this bill in his Senate Banking Committee next week. That already has Republicans crying foul. We'll see where they go in coming days.