Senate Clears Bank Bill for Final Passage

The U.S. Senate has cleared a sweeping bank regulation bill for final passage by breaking through a Republican blockade.

The Senate voted 60-38 Thursday to end debate on the bill. That paved the way for Congress to send President Barack Obama a crackdown on banks and Wall Street that in some ways is tougher than what he sought.

The Senate is expected to vote for final passage Thursday afternoon, and House aides say they will likely do an enrollment ceremony and the send the bill to the White House today.

The bill has been Obama's top domestic priority after the passage of health care legislation, and it will make major changes to the U.S. financial system in hopes of avoiding another major financial meltdown.

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Only three Republicans -- Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine and Scott Brown of Massachusetts -- voted with Democrats to end the debate. Democrat Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, who has said the bill is not tough enough, voted with most Republicans against the bill.

The Republican Party is betting that the bill's ambitious goals will be lost on voters and instead feed an election-year narrative that Democrats stand for bigger, more intrusive government.

But the bill bears the fingerprints of many other Republicans.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, a Democrat, negotiated several provisions with key committee Republicans such as Richard Shelby and Bob Corker.

That those bipartisan talks even occurred was remarkable in the highly politicized atmosphere in Congress. That they failed to expand the bill's base of support illustrates how much things remain the same.

In an interview, Dodd recalled how two months ago, struggling to secure 60 votes to simply start debate on the bill, some Democrats urged Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to abandon the legislation and blame it on Republicans.

"There were some who wanted to quit on the bill," Dodd said. Their reasoning, according to Dodd, was, "Why not just hold a press conference and denounce them (Republicans) for not allowing us to get there and try to reap whatever political benefits you could?"

Reid rejected the suggestion.

But the bill's political benefits in a heated midterm election year stand to be overshadowed by lingering high unemployment. And Republicans, casting the bill as vast government overreach, are betting that the voters' antipathy toward big government and their worries over jobs would trump their anger at Wall Street.

"Ultimately in November, people are going to be looking at the size and scope of the federal government, spending and debt and see that a lot of aspects of this bill make things worse in terms of getting America back to work rather than better," said Sen. John Cornyn, the head of National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Speaking on the Senate floor Wednesday evening, Dodd said Americans who have suffered through the recession don't count on Congress alone to bring back their jobs and homes.

"But they do expect us to respond to a situation that brought us to the brink of financial disaster," he said. "And this is our best effort to do so. It's not a perfect effort, I know that."

The 2,300-page legislation, among other things:

• Gives the government new powers to break up teetering companies which if allowed to fail would threaten the economy.

• Creates a new agency to guard consumers in their financial transactions.

• Shines a light into shadow financial markets that have escaped the oversight of regulators.

The bill's many provisions don't offer a quick remedy, however. Rather, they are a prescription for regulators to act. In many cases, the real impact of the legislation won't be felt for at least two years.

"We have no idea whether this bill is historical or not," Corker said. "We won't know for a long time, until the regulators decide what they're going to do with this bill."