House Votes for FinReg Bill
Politico reports that the House has passed the financial reform bill:
The House approved sweeping Wall Street reforms Wednesday, setting the stage for a final showdown in the Senate.
The vote was 237-192, largely along party lines.
In the Senate, an extraordinary 11th-hour maneuver by Democrats to kill a controversial bank fee opposed by key Republican senators got mixed results. And with the legislation’s final fate uncertain, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced he won’t take it up until after next week’s July 4th recess.
His decision buys Democrats time to wait for a Democratic replacement to fill the seat left vacant by the death Monday of Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) and to continue courting several fence-sitting Republicans.
But leaving the bill undone over the recess doesn’t come without risk. Republicans and other opponents could use the week-long break to foment public outcry reminiscent of last summer’s opposition to health care reform – a specter a leading Republican raised on the House floor Wednesday.
