From the Wall Street Journal (subscription required):

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Reserve, unleashing its latest attempt to inject more cash into the nation's ailing banks, loosened longstanding rules that had limited the ability of buyout firms and private investors to take big stakes in banks.

It marks the latest move by the Fed to rewrite the rulebook in response to the financial crisis. Regulators have grown worried about a shortage of capital at banks, in particular smaller thrifts and regional institutions. The Fed has been crafting this policy for at least two years, and private-equity firms have been aggressively lobbying for more lenient policies.

Doesn't this seem like the kind of thing that, say, Congress should have a say in? And do we really want to make changes like this during the most perilous financial crisis since 1929?