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Washington (CNN) - There is an overriding theme to Sen. Carl Levin's acceptance of President Obama's expected announcement that the United States will be sending upwards of 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan: The chairman of the Armed Services Committee thinks the president's Tuesday night message to the nation must "connect the dots" between the added cost in American lives and a willingness of Afghan soldiers to start taking over more of the fighting.

"The nation's going to want to hear why this mission is important, (and) what is the relationship between any additional troops and success in Afghanistan," Levin told CNN.

"...If there's going to be additional [U.S.] troops, which obviously there are, what is the relationship between additional troops and increasing the size and capability of the Afghan army?"

Levin indicated he had been in contact with President Obama about the pending strategy shift late last week.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) – The Obama administration's plan to overhaul lending regulations - stemming from the housing and credit meltdowns, as well as the current recession - moves to Capitol Hill Wednesday with the start of three straight days of hearings. The House Financial Services Committee will get the banking community's input first.

Steve Bartlett, president and CEO of the Financial Services Roundtable, an industry lobbying group, told CNN Radio that larger lending institutions "favor major regulatory reform. We think the time is overdue." But the administration's plan is a mixed bag, even if "generally in the right direction," according to Bartlett, who is scheduled to be one of the lead-off witnesses.

Bankers approve of some of the administration's plans to consolidate the myriad of agencies that regulate financial products. "We would like to see more consolidation. We think what America needs now is fewer regulators, but stronger regulators. Fewer agencies, but agencies that have more stick."

Where bankers split strongly with the White House is over the idea of creating a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency. "We think consumer protection should be beefed up. What we don't like is ... putting it into a separate, free-standing agency that will have less power to protect consumers," Bartlett said.

Current regulators, according to Bartlett, "have the full power of cease-and-desist orders, or life and death, over the financial institutions."

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(CNN) – He's considered the father of moderate Democratic organizations. And the Democratic Leadership Council that Al From helped found has a number of progeny, including its own Progressive Policy Institute think tank.

After 25 years, CEO From is stepping down from a political apparatus he helped build out of the ashes of the 1984 presidential re-election landslide of Ronald Reagan. A party operative on Capitol Hill, From was approached by Democratic moderates, including Sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia and Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri. Their aim was to steer the party toward a middle course and help elect a Democrat to the White House in 1988. Early on, the governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton hitched his wagon to the DLC, gaining the national party prominence that would help him clinch the nomination in 1992.

"The key to our revival [as a party was] to figure out what you're going to stand for…and make sure it's things that connect with a majority of Americans," From says in an interview with CNN Radio.

At its founding, From says the DLC took "fundamental first principles of the Democratic Party: Jackson's credo of 'Opportunity for All; Kennedy's ethic of civic responsibility; Truman's tough-minded internationalism; Roosevelt's innovation; Johnson's quest for social justice." He calls it a "modern political philosophy for progressive governance. It wasn't just a compromise between liberalism and conservatism."

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(CNN) – New Jersey Democrat Robert Menendez is a member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. After considerable delay, the bill to aid homeowners who are facing foreclosure because of significant jumps in the their "sub-prime" mortgage rates, will almost certainly pass the Senate Saturday morning. The White House says President Bush will sign it, despite his objections of $4 billion included that would allow distressed communities to buy up foreclosed homes.

Menendez talks about that issue and the fact it is difficult to get an actual cost on the bill, because it allows struggling borrowers to refinance under Federal Housing Administration-backed loans, but in a standard mortgage format (as opposed to sub-prime). Tacked on as well, is the idea the Treasury Secretary can help Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as needed, at a time when the two companies' stocks have dropped significantly.

Listen: Menendez talks to CNN Radio about the housing bill