U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said today he fears that the Senate Banking Committee will rush the massive reform of the financial industry next week.

Sen. Corker, who spent most of the past month trying to negotiate a bipartisan agreement on financial reform, said panel members can’t adequately consider all of the complexities of a new bill from Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., in only a week. Sen. Dodd said he plans to bring his own revised financial reform bill to the committee on Monday after talks with Republicans were suspended late Wednesday.

“I cannot imagine a committee member — Republican or Democrat — passing a bill with this type of substance in it in a week,” Sen. Corker said. “I think that would be a travesty.”

Sen. Corker said bringing new rules, regulations and consumer protections across all types of financial services in the wake of the 2008 meltdown on Wall Street requires longer deliberations.

“If senators can pass a bill of this substance — a 1,200-page bill full of substance that has a real effect on the financial industry — then the states that elect them might as well send robots.”

Sen. Corker said he is hopeful some type of financial reform will be passed, and he expects many of the Republican ideas to be included in Sen. Dodd’s bill coming next week. But the Tennessee Republican said he expects the bill will “tilt to the left.” He blamed the pressure to finish the health care reform bill this month for the breakdown in talks and the rush to get a Senate Banking Committee bill.

“I’m very disappointed,” Sen. Corker said. “I just felt we were on the 5-yard line after a grinding drive down the field and then the lights went out.”

For complete details, see tomorrow’s Chattanooga Times Free Press.