A Bipartisan Future?

"It is my hope that the majority's avowed interest in improving this legislation on the Senate floor is genuine and the partisan gamesmanship is over", Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement a few days ago, and I am sure many Americans would agree with him. This comment comes after Senator Dodd and Senator Shelby, along with several other senators, were unable to come to a bipartisan compromise in the Senate Banking Committee (See The Fight Over Bank Reform Outreach for more information on this). 

 

Republicans have decided to cease filibustering, and instead, change the bill on the floor of the senate through amendments. While Democrats have the ability to just pass the bill through with little opposition, it appears as though that will not be the case. Multiple senators, such as Ben Nelson (D – Nebraska), are threatening to vote against the bill if their concerns are not met. Even though Democrats are saying that they will consider amendments made by the Republicans, Republicans are dubious. They feel that instead of being heard, the amendments will just be overruled. 

 

Tom Hamburger, with the Los Angeles Times, touched on another issue that this Overhaul Bill is going to cause: a war. Not the type of war with guns and bullets flying everywhere, but rather a war of persuasion. Lobbyists are lacing up their boots for their climb up Capitol Hill. Economists are saying this may be one of the costliest lobby-wars ever seen. One of the major players in the lobbying game is everyone’s favorite company; Goldman Sachs put forth $1.15 million towards lobbying in the first three months of this year, and there is little doubt that they will lobby to defeat this financial overhaul bill. The Obama White House and Treasury Department insist that this bill should not be filled with loop holes and exemptions for specific companies. We will soon see. Senator Dodd stated that the next two weeks will primarily be focused on the debating and voting on the Financial Overhaul Bill. He also said that he would like it passed by the 14^th of this month. However, as we have seen in the past, the legislative process is not always effective in meeting such deadlines. 

 

As we said earlier, we will see what will happen.

 

Special thanks to our resources for this post:

The Wall Street Journal

The Los Angeles Times

The Washington Post

Rotor News