Factbox: Negotiators to hammer out final Wall Street bill

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Some of Wall Street's harshest critics in the House of Representatives could be named to a panel this week tasked with hammering out a final bill to crack down on the financial industry.

These "conferees" will join 12 counterparts from the Senate to resolve differences between the bills each chamber has passed to implement the biggest overhaul of U.S. financial regulation since the 1930s.

Democrats control Congress and they will control the conference committee, too. They hope to draft a final bill, get it passed by the full House and Senate and signed into law by President Barack Obama by their July 4 recess.

Here is how a conference committee works:

* Senate and House Republican and Democratic leaders name conferees to reconcile differences in legislation passed by their respective chambers. Traditionally, plenty of lawmakers like to be at the table for the high-stakes deal-making.

Historically, the chairs and ranking minority member of key committees of jurisdiction are named, plus a few others.

* Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell selected the Senate conferees for the financial regulation bill.

Reid's picks include Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, chief author of the Senate bill. Among those named by McConnell was Senator Richard Shelby, the top Republican on Dodd's panel.

Reid also named Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Blanche Lincoln. She has drafted a tough provision on derivatives and will be joined on the conference committee by Senator Saxby Chambliss, the Agriculture Committee's top Republican.

* House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, is expected to name House conferees on Tuesday or Wednesday. Democratic Representative Barney Frank, who has led the reform effort in the House, has recommended some of that chamber's harshest critics of Wall Street to join him on the panel, according to a memo obtained by Reuters.

Among them: Paul Kanjorski, Luis Gutierrez, Maxine Waters and Melvin Watt.

Frank is recommending that Democrats get eight spots on the committee, with five reserved for Republicans.

House Republican Leader John Boehner is expected to name his conferees shortly after Pelosi's announcement.

The overall number of House conferees and the ratio of Democrats to Republicans has not been determined yet, but like the Senate, Democrats will get a majority.

* The chairmanship of conference committees rotates between the House and Senate. With it being the House's turn, Frank is in line to head the panel, aides said.

Frank also chairs the House Financial Services Committee. As chief author of the House legislation, Frank can be expected to press for a tough crackdown on bank oversight, although the House bill is in some ways less hard-hitting than one approved by the Senate.

* Democrats and Republicans say they want an "open conference" so the public can watch as decisions are made, yet many decisions will likely be made in private.

Do not be surprised, however, to see the full -- or at least most -- of the conference committee before the TV cameras when the accord is formally announced.

* Once the conference comes up with a new bill, the House and Senate are not permitted to make any changes before voting on it. Republicans could try to raise procedural roadblocks that would take 60 votes to clear in the 100-member chamber. But with Democrats controlling 59 seats and polls showing public support for the bill, they seem certain to be able to handle any obstacles.