What's Going On With the Financial Reform Bill?

The financial reform bill, which looked like a foregone conclusion at the beginning of this week, has now been put on hold for a couple of weeks. There's a simple explanation for this: the death of West Virginia senator Robert Byrd, who was a reliable vote for the bill. The bill that emerged from the House-Senate conference at the end of last week had 60 senators in favor of it, but without Senator Byrd, that number dropped to 59. Republicans, who were mostly opposed to the bill, can hold up any vote on legislation unless the Democrats can get 60 votes to agree to end debate on the measure, so the bill's passage was suddenly less likely.

To ensure some Republican votes for the bill, Senate Democrats have gone back to do a little more horse-trading. Holding things back even further was the fact that Senator Byrd's memorial service was held yesterday, stopping pretty much all Senate business. Then of course, we have the Fourth of July break.

The House has already passed the legislation, so all that's left is for the Senate to take action. The initial plan was to have the president sign the bill on July 4th, but now the Senate will take it back up when they return from recess on July 12th. Expect to have a financial reform bill on the president's desk by the end of that week.