Financial Regulation After Robert Byrd

Brian Darling / June 28, 2010

Because of the death of Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV), prospects for passage of the conference report on Financial Regulatory Reform is now in a holding pattern. This conference report is expected to pass the House this week, but prospects for passage in the Senate are in doubt. President Obama has called on Congress to pass this bill by the July 4th recess next week. Conservatives worry that this bill establishes permanent bailout authority for failing businesses and that the regulatory provisions will hurt American competitiveness.

The so called “Financial Services Reform” passed both the House and Senate before a final product was negotiated between the chambers. H.R. 4173 passed the House on a 223-202 vote in December of last year. The bill passed the Senate on May 20th of this year on a 59-39 vote (Byrd and Specter not voting) with Republican Sens. Scott Brown (MA), Susan Collins (ME), and Olympia Snowe (ME) voting for the bill. Democrats opposing the bill included Sens. Maria Cantwell (WA) and Russ Feingold (WI). (more…)