Wall Street Reform Bill Moves Forward As GOP Consents To Debate

Wednesday, April 28, 2010 at 7:23PM
Justin Duckham in Congress, Frontpage 2

Legislation to reform the nation’s financial industry made considerable headway Wednesday as Republican Senators dropped their opposition to opening the bill up for formal debate.

The GOP’s decision came after Senate Democrats held three votes to sidestep objections from the minority party. The previous attempts failed to garner 60 votes, the number needed to override a filibuster and invoke cloture.

Attempts to move forward with the bill Wednesday evening met with unanimous consent, thus eliminating the need to hold a fourth vote.

Democrats applauded the Republicans' move.

“I am delighted that after three votes and three full days of pressuring those on the other side of the aisle … it finally appears that they are willing to listen,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wa.) said on the Senate floor Wednesday evening.

While significant progress has been made, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) stressed that serious work remains.

“We never sought to send this bill from the Committee room to the president’s desk,” said Reid.

Article originally appeared on Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media (http://www.talkradionews.com/).