1 Boring Old Man

On second attempt, Senate breaks GOP-led filibuster of Wall Street reform bill.
ThinkProgress
By Pat G.
05/20/2010

Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid [D-NV] attempted to invoke cloture on Sen. Chris Dodd’s [D-CT] financial regulatory reform bill. However, the attempt failed 57-42, due to a number of factors: the absence of Sen. Arlen Specter [D-PA], Sen. Scott Brown [R-MA] changing his vote, and Sens. Maria Cantwell [D-WA] and Russ Feingold [D-WI] refusing to end debate without consideration of provisions that would strengthen the bill. Today, Reid moved to invoke cloture again, and due to Specter’s arrival and Brown switching to yea, the vote succeeded, 60-40.

In addition to Brown, Sens. Susan Collins [R-ME] and Olympia Snowe [R-ME] voted in favor of cloture. Cantwell and Feingold voted no, again. There will now be 30 hours of post-cloture debate, including votes on an amendment proposed by Sen. Sam Brownback [R-KS] that would exempt auto dealers from new consumer protections and an amendment proposed by Sens. Carl Levin [D-MI] and Jeff Merkley [D-OR] that would ban banks from proprietary trading.

Senate Passes Financial Overhaul Bill
Wall Street Journal
By GREG HITT and DAMIAN PALETTA
MAY 20, 2010

… The legislation, in broad terms, is designed to close the regulatory gaps and end the speculative trading practices that contributed to the 2008 financial-market crisis, which prompted federal regulators to engineer a series of taxpayer bailouts of financial institutions. The legislation would restrict bank trading in complex financial instruments known as derivatives, which are often used by companies to hedge against changes in commodity prices or interest rates. Many lawmakers contend that speculation in derivatives, including by large banks, contributed to the 2008 crisis. The bill includes provisions that not only would create more oversight of the derivatives market but possibly force banks to spin off their derivatives-trading operations.

The bill would also create a new system and authority for regulators to liquidate large failed institutions. And it prohibits the government from propping up large institutions in the future with public money. The bill would create a regulator — within the Federal Reserve — with the mandate to protect consumers from abusive financial practices across a range of products, from home mortgages to credit cards. The regulator would have independent rule-making authority. But the agency’s rules could be reviewed — and blocked after the fact — by a council of regulators created by the legislation to protect the financial system more broadly against risky activities.

The bill would also restructure the way financial companies of all sizes are overseen. The Federal Reserve would have new powers to regulate the country’s largest financial firms, regardless of whether they are banks. The legislation consolidates the country’s national bank and thrift regulators into one agency to prevent companies from shopping for lighter supervision. It would also clear the way, for the first time, for the government to audit certain emergency-lending programs at the Fed …

• The legislation would restrict bank trading in complex financial instruments known as derivatives, which are often used by companies to hedge against changes in commodity prices or interest rates.
• The bill would create a regulator — within the Federal Reserve — with the mandate to protect consumers from abusive financial practices across a range of products, from home mortgages to credit cards.
• The Federal Reserve would have new powers to regulate the country’s largest financial firms, regardless of whether they are banks.
• The legislation consolidates the country’s national bank and thrift regulators into one agency to prevent companies from shopping for lighter supervision.