Last night, Senate Republicans united to vote against debate for the Democrats' financial reform bill, which left the two parties criticizing each other for either abandoning an attempt to reign in the financial industry or rushing a bill through. Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Connecticut), chair of the Senate Banking Committee, said, "We are as vulnerable as we are today in the waning days of April 2010 as we were in the fall of 2008. Nothing has changed, except, of course, jobs have been lost, homes have gone into foreclosure, retirement incomes have evaporated, housing values have declined."
However, Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) complained that the vote was rushed, pointing out that Dodd and Senator Richard Shelby (R-Alabama) were still working on a bill, "It didn’t serve a purpose, frankly, other than politics. And unfortunately, these days, here in the United States Senate, regrettably, it’s politics trumping policy. I don’t understand it." Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) mentioned other Democratic legislation, like the stimulus package and health care, haven't helped Americans, "The days of taking the Democrats’ word for it are over."
The 57-41 vote for debate didn't meet the 60 votes needed. Democrat Senator Ben Nelson switched to the "no" side, after expressing concerns about rules on derivatives trading (Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is based on Nebraska), and then Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) switched his vote to no, which the NY Times explains was "a strategic maneuver that would allow him to call a repeat vote, which is expected on Tuesday. Two Republicans senators, Christopher S. Bond of Missouri and Robert F. Bennett of Utah, did not vote."
The Washington Post reports that talks for a financial reform bill are continuing; Politico says that Democrats believe the GOP "can’t hold together for long" because today's testimony from Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein will "shine a light on some of the very practices that Democrats say the regulatory reform bill is meant to abolish."
