Furious lobbying on Capitol Hill kicked up a cloud of dust over consumer benefits tucked in the Senate version of the financial-reform bill. Do not be distracted.

Modest changes draw attention while some of the most troublesome regulations — the ones that got the nation's economy in trouble — remain unexamined and in place. Beware.

Banks are outraged the Senate voted to make credit card companies reduce fees for debit card transactions and charge less than for credit-card payments. Merchants would also be able to offer discounts depending on how customers paid. Merchants would not be able to set a minimum purchase limit for using a debit card.

Another potential boon for consumers caps ATM fees at 50 cents per transaction. The national average is reported as $2.66. Actual cost of processing is estimated at an inflation-adjusted 36 cents.

Does the cap make the ATM business wholly less attractive, so that fewer ATMs would be spread around? Consumers are likely willing to take that risk for any break in the relentless fee blizzard.

The wrestling match over giving consumers a break is a distraction from giving taxpayers a break. The Washington Post reports that Wall Street firms — the usual suspects — were able to set up lucrative commercial banks without usual regulatory oversight and capital requirements.

They soak up the benefits of deposit insurance from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. without any fussy regulations. Holders of these golden Industrial Loan Company devices used their advantage to make a bundle before they ran aground.

"The ILC charter was disproportionately valuable precisely to the parent companies that were the most reckless," the head of a nonprofit research group told the Post. For now, the law puts a three-year moratorium on new approvals.

American taxpayers — always on the hook for the bill — will not be any safer until commercial and investment banking functions are separated, and banks are rigorously regulated

Debates over ATM fees do not get that done.