US Senate Democrats welcome a fight with Republicans over a proposed agency aimed at protecting consumers from abusive financial industry practices, a top Senate Democrat said Monday. Sen. Richard Durbin (D., Ill.), the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, told reporters on a conference call that the GOP alternative to the proposed agency would protect “the most notorious” practices by debt collectors, pay-day lenders and other financial services firms. “If the Republicans want to stand behind those practices of the pay-day loan operations…I welcome the fight,” Durbin said.