Cantwell says that Congress and the Obama administration are just watching it happen. The Washington state Democrat is among the most outspoken members of the Senate when it comes to calling for tough new regulations to rein in Wall Street.

She's not looking to pick a fight with the White House, the Federal Reserve or powerful congressional committee chairmen. She was, however, one of 30 senators to vote against the confirmation of Ben Bernanke to a second term as Fed chairman; she temporarily blocked the appointment of the White House nominee to head the Commodity Futures Trading Commission; and she's been highly critical of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Larry Summers, the top White House economic adviser.

"We are trying to keep the focus on what needs to be done to get credit flowing and avoid another bubble," Cantwell said in an interview. "Do I wish the White House team was more attuned to these issues? Yes."

Cantwell has also teamed with the 2008 Republican presidential candidate, Arizona Sen. John McCain, to introduce legislation that would restore a Depression-era law that erected a firewall between commercial and investment banks and that could have prevented the type of financial abuses that led to the recession.

"My reason for joining this effort is simple — I want to ensure that never again will we stick the American taxpayer with another $700 billion or even larger tab to bail out the financial industry," McCain said at a December news conference. "If big Wall Street institutions want to take part in risky transactions, fine. But we should not allow them to do that with . . . taxpayer money."

Cantwell said McCain approached her about co-authoring the legislation. Cantwell was on the Senate Commerce Committee when McCain was the chairman.

White House officials have, at least twice, backed off commitments they made to her that they'd push for tougher regulations, Cantwell said.

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