Senate Democrats failed to muster enough votes Monday to take up Wall Street reform, with a key Democrat voting with Republicans against the push to get the debate started.
Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., voted against a proposal to officially start debating the Wall Street reform legislation before other lawmakers on a Senate Banking panel negotiate a deal.
That move made it impossible for Democrats to get 60 votes to push the legislation forward.
The official vote was 57-41 in favor of moving forward. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., switched his vote from “yes” to “no,” in a procedural move that allows him, under the Senate rules, to bring the bill up again for another vote. An aide to Reid said late Monday that the vote will take place Wednesday.
Two GOP senators, Christopher Bond of Missouri and Robert Bennett of Utah, did not vote.
Nelson told CNN that he worried about the legislation’s impact on Main Street and that he didn’t want to push forward a bill that isn’t finalized.
“This has an awful lot of unintended consequences,” Nelson said. “I don’t think everyone is aware of the unintended consequences.”
His vote signals that Democrats have a ways to go in negotiating a deal with Republicans before a final bill can pass.
The White House issued a statement from President Obama expressing his disappointment in the vote and urging the Senate to “get back to work and put the interests of the country ahead of the party.”
Democrats and Republicans still disagree about the way to go about preventing future bailouts, cracking down on risky bets and ensuring consumers have stronger protection.
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., the ranking member on the banking panel, met again Monday with Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who runs the banking panel. But the two remain far apart on key details, and, according to Republican congressional staff aides, their staffs have not met since Thursday to hash out differences on paper.
“My goal and Sen. Dodd’s goal is to get a bill first in principle, and then there’s a lot of work to be done, working together,” Shelby said.
Shelby added that he’d like to get a bill completed “this week or next,” or “as soon as we can.” But Shelby and Dodd have been talking over many of the same issues for months.
(Read More: CNN Money)
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One Response
No Mr. President, this is your interest in the party getting ahead of the country. You are disappointed that your feeble attempt to takeover the banking industry failed.
Don’t you think that your party has done enough damage to the country’s economy with the Housing Reinvestment Act?