“If you think Congress is hopelessly divided on party lines on every issue, think again. When it comes to regulating — more precisely, deregulating — corporate America, Republicans and Democrats are all too eager to find common ground.

“This week a bipartisan group of senators — four Republicans, three Democrats and one independent — is expected to introduce legislation that would slow and complicate the already laborious process by which federal regulations are issued and enforced.

“The winners would be big banks and big businesses. The losers would be ordinary Americans who would be deprived of timely and effective protection from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and other bank regulators, as well as from agencies that oversee consumer product safety, nuclear safety, investor safeguards, workplace rights and a host of other issues and activities.”

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Read the full New York Times editorial here.