In 1997, lobbyists for the Independent Insurance Agents of America, under pressure from then Senate Banking Committee Chair Alfonse D'Amato (R-NY), threw in the towel and agreed to negotiate with their long time enemies, the banking and Wall Street investment industries, on new laws structuring the financial industry for the 21st century. Their compromise removed a major legislative barrier to facilitating the emergence of large, one-stop shopping financial corporations. More surprisingly, the Consumer Federation of America and other public interest groups also started bargaining over the shape of the consumer protection laws governing these new institutions. Getting something through bargaining, they believed, was better than letting the financial industry write these laws themselves. Not all consumer groups participated in these negotiations or gave support to the final bill; there were just not enough consumer protection provisions included to please their ideologically motivated members. Nor did every banking and insurance agent organization support the final deal, largely because their members felt threatened by the prospect of an industry dominated by a few financial behemoths. Yet the final interest group coalition that drove the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 across President Bill Clinton's desk was truly surprising in its ideological breadth.