Financial Reform Debate Blocked By Senate 57-41. Which Means More Debate.

Chris Dodd’s financial overhaul bill needed 60 senate votes to begin a debate on the bill’s details that would eventually lead to a vote making the bill into law, but a procedural vote today came up short at 57-41, with all Republicans opposing it. So now the key provisions of the bill will be subject to more debate—including creation of a new consumer finance protection agency and requiring most derivatives to be exchange traded and routed through clearinghouses which guarantee trades between two parties.

President Obama said this about the political posturing by both parties: “Some of these senators may believe that this obstruction is a good political strategy, and others may see delay as an opportunity to take this debate behind closed doors, where financial industry lobbyists can water down reform or kill it altogether. But the American people can’t afford that.”