Finance Bill Close to Passage in Senate

[IScreamSundays]

Source: Wall St Journal

WASHINGTON—Two Senate Republicans said Monday they would support the Obama administration's financial overhaul bill, likely giving the White House the 60 votes it needs to push the sweeping rewrite into law by the end of the week.

Sens. Scott Brown of Massachusetts and Olympia Snowe of Maine both said they would vote for the measure when Democrats bring it to a vote, which could happen as soon as this week. Democrats and administration officials believe this gives them the necessary backing to overcome a potential filibuster after weeks of uncertainty and unexpected pitfalls.

Because the House of Representatives already passed the bill by a 237-to-192 margin several weeks ago, Senate passage would send the bill to the White House, where President Obama is expected to quickly sign it into law.

"It is a better bill than it was when this whole process started," Mr. Brown said. "While it isn't perfect, I expect to support the bill when it comes up for a vote." All three Republicans expected to vote for the bill secured changes to the bill addressing pet issues or constituent concerns.

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Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704288204575363041621621632.html

[Joanne98]

1. Ben Nelson voting NO!

[karynnj]

4. On this he is a yes - Feingold is the Democratic no

[Javaman]

2. from what I understand this bill doesn't deal with derivatives.

Am I wrong?

[karynnj]

5. yes, though not as strong as some want, it does increase

regulation and transparency for derivatives.

[Javaman]

6. Thanks. :) You wouldn't happen to have a link with more info, by chance? nt

[karynnj]

7. Here is a Prosense thread that has many good links on exactly the questions you are asking

In the 1990’s, Brooksley Born, who chaired the Commodity Futures Trading Commission at the time, tried to warn federal bank regulators, including Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, about the www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2009/marapr/featur... |dangers of over-the-counter derivatives>. To put it mildly, her alarm-sounding did not go over well:

Of course, as we now know, the huge, opaque derivatives market helped to unleash a financial cataclysm, particularly by imploding the insurance giant AIG. “No federal or state public official had any idea what was going on in those markets, so enormous leverage was permitted, enormous borrowing,” Born said. “There was also little or no capital being put up as collateral for the transactions.”

Since Born saw the problems with the derivatives market where so many others didn’t, it’s significant that she has lent her support to the financial regulatory reform package that passed the House this week and is due for a vote in the Senate when the July 4th recess ends. “(The bill) is an important step forward in regulating the over-the counter derivatives market and I very much hope it is enacted into law,” Born said.

Despite the unfortunate watering down of the provision forcing banks to spin their derivatives trading desks into separately capitalized entities, the derivatives title of the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill is quite strong. It places standardized derivatives trades onto public exchanges (like the stock exchange) and forces customized trades to be cleared by clearinghouses (avoiding an AIG-type situation where one party to a trade has insufficient capital on hand to back it up). This is getting lost in the drama surrounding Sen. Scott Brown’s (R-MA) hemming and hawing over the bill, but it’s an important set of reforms that needs to become law.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=433&topic_id=363262

There is likely no one with more credibility on this that Born. Please go to the Prosense link - a huge number of these statements have hypertext, where you can get excellent backup. (Prosense had a huge number of extremely well documented posts on this bill, but this was is a real powerhouse in terms of information.)

[Tx4obama]

3. Republican Susan Collins is also going to vote YES. So, we have the 60 votes!

http://www.demconwatchblog.com/diary/3715/we-have-60-votes-for-finreg