Obama Senses Victory After Senate Passes Key Vote On Financial Reform

President Barack Obama thanked the Senate on Thursday for voting to end debate on a key financial regulatory reform bill. The 60-40 vote means that the bill can now proceed to the floor for a final vote.

Though two Democrats, Sens. Russ Feingold (Wisc.) and Maria Cantwell (Wash.), broke with their party and voted no to ending debate for a second straight day, three Republicans, Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, and Sen. Scott Brown (Mass.) voted yes, giving 57 Democrats the minimum number of votes they needed to block a filibuster.

Addressing reporters in the White House Rose Garden following the vote, the President praised the Senate for moving the bill forward, but cautioned against celebrating prematurely.

“We’ve still got some work to do,” he said, reminding supporters that the Senate still must pass its bill before it moves to conference. “There’s no doubt that during that time, the financial industry and their lobbyists will keep on fighting.”

But so will the administration. Four weeks ago, Mr. Obama memorably went to Wall Street to make the case for reform. Since then, the President and his financial reform team have hit the road in an attempt to sell the public on the plan. And earlier this week, the President was successfully able to convince Senator Brown to break with Republicans and change his vote, from no to yes.

As a result, the White House feels confident that they’ve won Round One of the battle.

“Over the last year, the financial industry has repeatedly tried to end this reform with hordes of lobbyists and millions of dollars of ads,” said the President. “Today, I think it’s fair to say that these efforts have failed.”

Notes From Today's White House Press Briefing

White House Press Briefing
With Press Secretary Robert Gibbs


NORTH KOREA ATTACK

Gibbs said the US is involved in reviewing South Korea’s claim that North Korea was responsible for the sinking of one of its vessels back in March. Gibbs says the White House “strongly condemned” the attack when it happened, and said the administration is in consultations with the South Koreans and other nations, as well as the UN Security Council. Gibbs called the attack an “act of aggression” and said if in fact, North Korea was behind the attack, their actions will have isolated them even more from the rest of the world. Gibbs said the US is committed to South Korea’s defense. Gibbs called the alleged attack “extremely troubling.”


OIL SPILL

Gibbs said that the EPA supports BP’s use of an underwater dispersant to deal with the oil that is spilling 5,000 feet below the sea surface in the Gulf. Gibbs said that POTUS, however, would like BP to make its clean up efforts a bit more transparent. Gibbs defended the White House’s decision to send a letter to BP putting pressure on the company to speed up its clean-up efforts and informing the company that it will be held liable for all clean-up costs associated with the giant spill. Gibbs said Coast Guard Commander Adm. Thad Allen told him that he hasn’t seen a situation as bad as this in over 30 years. Gibbs said Allen has agreed to stay on as the White House’s point man on the spill even after he retires later this year. Gibbs said he wasn’t bothered that BP CEO Tony Hayward will be traveling to Europe to attend meetings. Gibbs refuted the notion that BP cares more about preventing a public relations crisis then fixing the leak and cleaning up the spill. Gibbs repeated the White House’s assertion that BP will be forced to pay for all the cleanup fees. “They will get the bill,” he said. “The taxpayers won’t.” Gibbs said everything that can be done to stop the leak is being done. Gibbs also said that the five Gulf state Governors have been participating in morning conference calls about the spill every day.


SESTAK/WHITE HOUSE RUMOR

Gibbs refused to address reports that the White House offered Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) a job in the administration earlier this year to keep him from running for the Senate against Arlen Specter. Said Gibbs, “I don’t have anything to add to what I said in March.”


FINANCIAL REFORM

Gibbs said POTUS believes in putting strong rules in place in the financial system, and said that doing so would improve the condition of the country’s economy as a whole. Gibbs said financial reform would directly benefit folks on Main Street struggling to either keep their jobs or find new ones. When asked about the Senate bill, Gibbs said, “we’re coming to the end of the process.” Gibbs said that the mid-term elections this November will be a partial referendum on financial reform.


PRIMARIES

Gibbs said the primaries proved that the Democratic Party is truly the ‘big-tent’ party. Gibbs downplayed the fact that newly-elected Congressman Mark Critz (D) ran away from POTUS during his primary race, saying he doubted that there are many Democrats in Congress who agree with everything POTUS does or supports. Gibbs said the primaries showed that Republicans are “having an internal battle with themselves.” On the topic of Arlen Speter, Gibbs said only that the GOP kicked Specter out of their party after his years and years of service to them. He said the same for Charlie Crist and Bob Bennett, and agreed with the belief that this is a tough year for any incumbent in Congress. Gibbs said VPOTUS connected with Specter earlier today. Gibbs also said that Rand Paul’s remarks about not voting for the Civil Rights Act “should not have a place in our political dialogue in 2010.”


SALAHIS

Gibbs was asked about a report which alleged that the Salahis were apparently stopped by Secret Service in their limo near the White House last night, and he responded that once again, they were not on the guest list. “I shook my head...once again,” he said while explaining that he was aware of the report. “It seems like their 15 minutes of fame were up six months ago,” he added.


CALDERON VISIT

Gibbs more or less sideswiped a question about POTUS’s feelings on Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s remarks yesterday on the recently-passed immigration law in Arizona. Gibbs said only that both Presidents share the view that they disagree with the law. Gibbs did not specifically say whether or not POTUS agrees with Calderon’s call for a flat-out ban on assault weapons, Gibbs said he had not heard of a report yesterday that an elementary school student told FLOTUS, who was visiting the schoolchildren, that her mother was an illegal immigrant.


IRAN NUCLEAR AGREEMENT

Gibbs called Iran’s agreement with Turkey and Brazil over its uranium stockpile a “step in the right direction....assuming Iran keeps up its end of the deal.” Gibbs said the proposal between the three nations still does not fully address all the concerns that the P5 have about Iran’s nuclear program. Gibbs added that the agreement is less than what Iran agreed to eight months ago.

Bill Would Provide Immediate Economic Relief To Gulf Community

Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu (D) introduced legislation Thursday aimed at helping businesses and communities affected by the continuing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Landrieu’s bill would direct roughly 40 percent of oil revenues the federal government collects from companies leasing sites in the Gulf to immediately go to the states hit hardest by the disaster. Currently, most of those revenues aren’t slated to be shared until 2017, but Landrieu noted there is good reason to accelerate the pace.

Right now, she said, “There is more oil being spilled in the Gulf in one day and a half then has flowed into the entire Gulf for the last decade."

Landrieu accused the federal government of "shortchanging" the Gulf area for years in terms of helping protect states from spills and other drilling-related disasters. However, she praised the Obama administration for signing off on plans to invest $20 billion in developing the Gulf shore’s economy, and hit back against critics who argue the bill unfairly benefits a handful of states that don’t necessarily lay sole claim to the oil that is produced off their coasts.

“I’ve always conceded that [the oil] is a federal resource as opposed to a state resource,” she said. “Yet...it’s the coastal states that bear almost 100 percent of the risk.”

Landrieu estimated the price tag of her bill to be around $3 billion, but warned of course, that not passing it would cost the government far more in the long run.

Congress is expected to take up the legislation sometime next week.

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Loose Federal Oversight Contributed To Oil Spill, Says Top House Democrat

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Tuesday that the federal agency tasked with quality oversight of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded last month, spilling millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, could have done more to prevent the catastrophe.

When asked during his weekly news briefing whether the Minerals Management Service (MMS), an agency within the Department of Interior, should have been firmer with BP, the company in control of operating the site, about installing proper spill prevention mechanisms in recent years, Hoyer responded by saying, “I think that’s accurate, I think you’re right.”

"I think there was a sense that [MMS] wasn't on top of this," he added. "That's why [MMS Associate Director Chris Oynes] is retiring."

Hoyer also said he expects the House to hold a vote on imposing sanctions against Iran before the upcoming holiday recess.

"I think it's very important that we pass the Iran sanctions conference report prior to leaving on Memorial Day," he said. "I'm hopeful that...we will have it on the floor next week."

Earlier in the day, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced during a hearing held by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the U.S. had reached an agreement with four permanent members of the United Nations Security Council -- including Russia and China -- on ordering sanctions.

Palin Rallies Pro-Lifers, Slams Media For Being Anti-Tea Party

Speaking at a fundraiser in Downtown Washington, D.C. this morning, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (R) praised the conservative Tea Party movement, and fired jabs at members of the “mainstream” news media.

Palin, who waived her speaking fee to address a sold-out audience at the ticket-only breakfast, held by the Susan B. Anthony List, a 280,000-member organization devoted to helping elect pro-life candidates to office, said she is inspired by the fact that, according to polls, women represent the majority of Tea Partiers nationwide.

The 2008 Republican Vice Presidential candidate was met with applause when she said, “these policies coming out of DC right now, this fundamental transformation of America that we were warned about in the [2008 presidential] campaign? Well, a lotta women...are saying, ‘we don’t like this.’”

“It seems like it’s kind of a ‘mom awakening’ in the last year and a half,” she added. “Women are rising up and saying, ‘no, we’ve had enough already, we’re gonna...get our country back on the right track.’”

Moments later, Palin expressed sympathy for Tea Partiers, who, she said, have been negatively mischaracterized by the news media as being supportive of violence and bigotry.

“People there in the media [are] trying to portray Tea Party Americans as racist and violent and all those things that they are not,” said Palin. “[The media has] tried, but I think they’ve failed because Americans are smart enough to start holding the media accountable.”

"They just kinda crack me up," she jested.