This means that the investment bank's European derivatives exposure is now backstopped by U.S. taxpayers. Bank of America didn't get regulatory approval to do this, they just did it at the request of frightened counterparties. Now the Fed and the FDIC are fighting as to whether this was sound. The Fed wants to "give relief" to the bank holding company, which is under heavy pressure.

The pictures below are from one of the protests that lead the President to veto the bill. Remember all that talk about torches and pitchforks? Well, Iceland went ahead and broke out the torches (ok - they're flares, technically):