Robert Byrd's Death Leaves Financial Reform Vote Up in the Air

AP

The House and the Senate were poised to pass a sweeping financial reform measure this week and send it to the president's desk, but the death of Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia could delay the final votes on the bill.

Byrd, Congress' longest-serving member, died at the age of 92 early this morning. While the senator's health was fragile for several years, his vote has proved critical for Democrats, who since the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy last year have been one vote shy of a filibuster-proof, 60 vote majority.

With Byrd's death, it is now unclear whether Democrats have enough votes to overcome a Republican filibuster to pass financial reform. Four Republicans -- Sens. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Olympia Snowe of Maine, Susan Collins of Maine and Charles Grassley of Iowa -- helped pass an initial version of the bill in May, and three of them (excluding Grassley) voted for "cloture," which closes debate and ends a filibuster. Two Democrats -- Sens. Maria Cantwell of Washington and Russell Feingold of Wisconsin -- voted against cloture and the bill.

Given that Cantwell and Feingold are not expected to change their votes, Democrats now need all of those Republicans to maintain their position in order to defeat a filibuster. However, Brown said Friday he has reservations about the compromise bill House and Senate negotiators fashioned last week and is still reviewing the final version. He said he is concerned about the $19 billion in bank fees added to the bill, the Boston Globe reports.

"I was surprised and extremely disappointed to hear that... new assessments and fees were added in the wee hours of the morning by the conference committee," Brown said in a statement to the Globe Friday. "I've said repeatedly that I cannot support any bill that raises taxes."

West Virginia's Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin will appoint a successor to Byrd's seat, but it's unclear whether that will happen this week to allow Democrats to schedule a vote on financial reform this week as planned. Democrats were aiming to get the bill to President Obama before their July 4 recess.

More Coverage:

Robert Byrd Succession Hinges on Ambiguous West Virginia Laws
Pork or Progress? Sen. Byrd Leaves Legacy
Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia Dies at 92
Robert Byrd Photo Gallery
Wall Street Reform: A Summary of What's In the Bill
Jill Schlesinger on Financial Reform Winners & Losers

[presjfk]

I wish all of Congress was 92 and dropping dead right now...

[RatPackSixGun]

The Democrats pushing financial reform?!? They completely stonewalled it in 2004, when it would have actually mattered and made a difference today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MGT_cSi7Rs

Who's the real party of no?!?

[jimbom121]

The package in 2003 was killed by both parties...for different reasons. What ended up passing in 2005 ended up being a direct reason for the collapse in 2008.

[jimbom121]

Why is it up in the air? You still need 2 Repubs to allow it to move to a vote.

[msjb1]

maybe a couple of the older voters will wonder if paybacks are in effect

[TJphoto]

Let me get this straight. Financial institutions caused a meltdown of the economy so the Congress proposes financial reform so that the greed of these institutions cannot repeat this again, and the Republican Party opposes this? Keep up the good work guys because I personally am not voting for any sitting member of congress in November. Hint: You have us 13 trillion dollars in the hole, why do I want to re employ you?? Your leadership skills?

[jimbom121]

Yes...because then they can beg these companies for campaign money.

[RobertGerardHunt]

For a first-hand account of Senator Byrd's 2006 appearance at Harpers Ferry to recognize the founding of the organization that would become the NAACP (including exclusive photos), see http://robertgerardhunt.com/2010/04/16/lost-and-found/

[djaymick]

The "compromise" was completed behind closed doors and involved Democrats only. The media then applauded the effort, even though they didn't know what they agreed upon. This was the news all day Friday. Now that Byrd died (God rest his soul), the news organizations are upset that the GOP may vote against this bill (not a filibuster, by the way). The media will call them obstructionists, racists, big business backers, etc. Why do they applaud one political group, which refuses to work with the other, and then get upset that the other party just doesn't sit back and take what they want?
We've seen two major bills passed during the Obama presidency. They are the stimulus plan and the health care reform plan. The first passed even though no one read the bill (300 pages were dumped onto the House less that 24 hours before the vote). We got the Dodd Amendment out of that. To those who forget what that's about, it allowed TARP recipients to pay bonuses to their employees. Of course the media blasted big business for doing this; however, the Democrats allowed it to happen with this new law. We got promises from Christine Romer and Joe Biden that this would cap unemployment at 8% and that 90% of the jobs would be in the private sector. None of those happened.

The second law, health care reform, is showing to cost $115B more than first projected (killing Obama's pledge that it won't cost more than $1T), forcing companies to project the ramifications of the law (Waxman blasted companies like AT&T, Verizon, Caterpillar for abiding to the law and reporting such increases) and now the regulations that were leaked from the Department of HHS (where the promise, "If you like your plan, you can keep your plan and nothing will change." is just another broken promise).

Given the track record of this Congress, why should we trust the Democrats to make things better? Why does it have to be conducted behind closed dorrs, when our President and Speaker of the House both declared this the most transparent Congress ever?

These are the questions that our media (the "valued Fourth Estate) has refused to ask. People are wondering who's side they're on. That's why their subscription rates and audiences have shrunk to where they are now. People don't want to listen to the same arguments that have accelerated our problems.

[jimbom121]

Do you enjoy paying fo AT&T, Verizon and Catepillar's retiree benefits? Because tax payers were on the hook for it due to the Medicare act of 03.

[Mortar_29]

Well, I never would wish for his death.

But him out of the Senate....that is a good thing.

And this financial monstrosity disguised as "reform" tanking because he is no longer in the Senate? Even better.

[Tiddah]

you are an idiot. Why would you want financial reform to fail. If you think it is not good b/c repubs don't want it your a fool.