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June 29, 2010 Tuesday 04:54 PM EST
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US Financial Reform Bill Returns to Drawing Table
Jesse A Hamilton
WASHINGTON
Congressional lawmakers are heading back to work on the bill to reform major portions of the U.S. financial system. Because Democratic leaders ran into newly emerging problems with getting the massive bill through the Senate, they are returning to work in order to make limited changes that might allow a pre-July 4 approval — as they had planned for. Though the negotiating group of lawmakers — known as a conference committee — had settled last week on a unified version of the bill to send back for final votes in the House and Senate, the death of Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., and a reversal of support from Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., left the bill unable to win the 60 votes it needs in the Senate to beat back a Republican filibuster. So, the lead negotiators, Sen. Chris Dodd, chairman of the Banking, Housing and Urban Development Committee, and Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the Financial Services Committee, announced they would return to the negotiation. The right deal could still allow the bill’s supporters to push it through for overall congressional approval before next week’s holiday recess, though any changes aren’t likely to have direct effect on the insurance industry. While the West Virginia governor’s pending appointment to replace Byrd won’t arrive in time for votes this week, Democratic leaders are apparently aiming to win back support from Brown. With his vote and those of three other Republicans who have supported financial reform efforts in past votes, the outcome would likely be just enough to win the three-fifths total needed to shield the bill from a filibuster. The Massachusetts senator had objected to an 11th-hour tax on banks that had been added to the bill. Brown had issued a statement after the negotiating committee produced its final version, saying he was “surprised and extremely disappointed” to hear about the last-minute addition of $18 billion in taxes and fees on banks. “While I’m still reviewing the bill’s details, these provisions were not in the Senate version of the bill which I previously supported. … I’ve said repeatedly that I cannot support any bill that raises taxes” (BestWire, June 28, 2010). The lawmakers were forced to return to the conference committee because the bill that had been initially approved by the committee otherwise couldn’t be changed by further amendments. Meanwhile, the House will have to continue waiting before it can start its floor process and get to the final vote it’s been poised to take.(Jesse A. Hamilton, Washington bureau manager: Jesse.Hamilton@ambest.com)
June 30, 2010
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