Unified GOP To Block Senate From Debating Wall Street Reform

Robert Greenwald: We're Not Stupid, Mitch
Say what you want about Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, but he's a man who knows what he wants and who's not afraid to go get it. Specifically, he wants Wall Street fat-cat campaign contributions.

"Bring it on,"

Mitch McConnell has rounded up the necessary votes to block Democrats from bringing Wall Street reform to the Senate floor, a spokesman for the Senate Minority Leader said on Friday afternoon.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said on Thursday he planned to bring the bill to the floor next week where it would be debated and amendments added. McConnell has now persuaded 41 Republicans to vote against debating reform.
'We simply cannot ask the American taxpayer to continue to subsidize this 'too big to fail' policy. We must ensure that Wall Street no longer believes or relies on Main Street to bail them out. Inaction is not an option," McConnell writes in a letter to Reid that was provided to HuffPost.
Democrats have been battering McConnell all week for his firm opposition to the Democratic reform effort.
Reid spokesman Jim Manley told HuffPost that Reid will be moving ahead regardless.
"Congratulations. I hope they feel good," said Manley. "They've got 41 signatures on a weak, watered-down letter that simply calls for more negotiations. If they are at all serious, they will simply let us go to the bill next week and let the amendment process begin."
Manley said the bill will be brought up for a vote on a motion to proceed to debate later this coming week. LinkHere

UPDATE: McConnell's office sends along a statement from Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who had been the holdout, that she will indeed vote to filibuster a motion to proceed: "If the Majority Leader brings the partisan Senate Banking Committee bill to the floor next week, Senator Collins will vote against a motion to proceed."
UPDATE II: Reid spokesman Manley says that Democrats aren't backing down. "Bring it on," he says of the GOP filibuster threat.

Dodd unveils bank reform bill without GOP support
Legislation would limit the Fed's scope to setting monetary policy

Nov. 10, 2009

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd unveiled Tuesday a long-anticipated package of bank-reform measures, legislation designed to shore up deficiencies that came to light in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.

Running 1,136 pages long, the bill includes provisions to create a consolidated bank regulator, limit the fallout if a bank deemed "too big to fail" collapses, and set up a consumer-protection agency to oversee mortgages and credit cards.
It would also give the Federal Reserve a considerably smaller role in banking oversight.
Republicans in the Senate aren't offering any backing for Dodd's legislation.
"We must restore responsibility and accountability in our financial system to give Americans confidence that there is a system in place that works for and protects them," said Dodd, D-Conn., in a statement. "We must create a sound foundation to grow the economy and create jobs."
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., has already begun to work on a similar bill in his capacity as chief of the House Financial Services Committee. The legislation has been widely discussed and last week came in for criticism. See full story.