Holiday break could take a toll on financial reform bill
TEXT OF STORY
Bill Radke: Yesterday, the House passed what could be the final version of financial reform. But it’s still not a done deal, and the July 4 holiday could threaten the measure’s support. We get the story now from Marketplace’s Jeremy Hobson.
Jeremy Hobson: The bill now heads to the Senate. Well, after a week-long 4th of July break. Earlier this week, Democrats scrapped the idea of paying for the bill with a $19 billion tax on financial institutions to gain a few Republican votes needed for passage.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, for whom the bill is named, begged for support on the Senate floor yesterday:
Chris Dodd: To my colleagues, I don’t know what else I could have done to make this more inclusive, to provide more balance and sense to all of this, and I urge you, I plead with you to give us the vote on this.
But an extra week of delay will mean an extra week for financial industry lobbyists to sway waffling senators. Wall Street has flexed its muscle again and again on this bill. So even if it passes, there are concerns some banks will remain too big to fail.
Republican Senator Scott Brown, whose hesitance forced the elimination of the bank tax, said in a statement that he’ll use his holiday break to continue to review the bill, which has been called the biggest change in financial rules since the 30s.
I’m Jeremy Hobson for Marketplace.
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