Mari Fagel/MNS
Sens. Robert Menendez and Jack Reed urge Republicans to move financial reform bill to debate.
WASHINGTON – For the third day in a row, Senate Republicans blocked the financial reform bill from being debated. Sixty votes are necessary to move the bill forward; Wednesday’s tally was four votes shy.
Republicans said they are not willing to debate until key elements in the bill are changed, specifically the creation of an independent consumer protection agency tasked with preventing predatory lending.
“To get a bill, we are going to have to deal in a meaningful way to limit the idea of what, where they want to go with this consumer agency,” Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said Tuesday, “because it would be so sweeping in scope and breadth, it would reach into anything in our economy just about, anything dealing with credit.”
However, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said Republican views on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are misguided.
“There is a sense out there that consumer protection is somehow antagonistic to successful financial activities, when in fact, without good consumer protections, you can’t have a strong, vibrant economy that benefits all of us,” said Reed. “There is not an either or. We have to have both and were going to insist on both when we get to the floor.”
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said he believes Republicans are voting against the bill because of their alliances with financial institutions.
“Republicans on the other side of the aisle have positioned themselves on the side of the special interests,” said Menendez. “On healthcare they stood with insurance companies, on tobacco legislation, they stood with big tobacco, and on Wall Street reform, they are standing up with corporate interests.”
Yet Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, said elements in the bill, including establishing a formal exchange to publicly trade derivatives, are preventing Republicans from going forward. He said they will continue to vote against the bill until the language is changed.
“That’s only going to happen through negotiation,” said McConnell. “It’s a lot less likely to happen through amendment on the floor.”
“This delay and delay and delay is not helping America,” said Reed. “I think after months and months and months of effort, we are ready to begin the process of amending the bill and moving towards, we hope, final passage.”