Utility companies successfully lobbied Congress last year to repeal a Depression-era law that discouraged cross-state ownership in the power and gas business.

After decades of trying, Congress finally repealed Depression-era laws that limited the ability of banks to enter the securities and insurance industries.

By clarifying arcane rules concerning the electricity industry and repealing outdated Depression-era laws, the bill will encourage more investment in energy.

The deal marks the first interstate merger among two power companies since Congress passed a bill this summer repealing a Depression-era law that limited such deals.

Big banks are hoping he does away with the Depression-era laws that have made it hard for them to underwrite corporate securities.

Similar criticism last year doomed the latest of repeated legislative efforts to loosen the Depression-era law that divided the financial industries.

The act is a Depression-era law that prohibits federally financed construction jobs from paying wages less than a local average.

But the Gonzalez-Dingell agreement, like the Depression-era laws on the books, would have imposed barriers to new businesses.

On top of that, Depression-era laws aimed at protecting banks from possible losses in securities made it difficult for them to move into other financial products.

For two decades Washington has tried and failed to update the Depression-era laws governing the rapidly changing financial services industry.