I definitely got the sense on Tuesday that Congress is now on step two of the AIG outrage story, moving on to see what they can do about broader financial reforms, rather than just screaming bloody murder.

Once it had been established that there were no sinister conspiracy theories about when Secretary of Treasury Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke were told of the AIG bonuses, you could almost feel the air go out of the balloon.

"It's been a crazy four or five days," said Rep. Jim Himes (D-Connecticut) who said it's now time for the Congress to move on to the more important questions of how best to achieve reform of the financial system.

"Hopefully we've moved on," he said.

Geithner will be back before the same House committee on Thursday to delve into those issues even more, as the White House wants to find ways to broaden the authority of the Treasury Department to deal with financially troubled institutions that aren't banks.

Of course, talking about stronger regulatory oversight is one thing.  Getting all that down in fine print and keeping it from being watered down is another.  That's always the danger when it comes to big change in the Congress.

It's almost hard to believe that the AIG bonus story was sparking such outrage just one week ago today, and that the House voted last Thursday for the bill to levy a 90% tax on such bonuses.

It's clear the Senate isn't going to move on the issue before Easter, and that the House passed bill may simply sit on the sidelines - maybe until the next bonus revelations occur.

But as of now, the Congress is moving on, though lawmakers clearly sent a message to Wall Street about compensation.  Let's see if anyone heard it.