Last night, the Senate passed the largest overhaul of the financial industry since the Great Depression. The vote was largely along party lines, with only four Republicans voting 'yes,' and only two Democrats voting 'no.' (Two Democrats did not cast a vote.)
The two Democrats voting against the bill were Maria Cantwell (WA) and Russ Feingold (WI). Both had wanted the Senate to continue amending the legislation, saying they wanted more protections for the broader economy, and more restrictions and oversight for the financial industry.
Feingold said, "The bill does not eliminate the risk to our economy posed by ‘too big to fail’ financial firms, nor does it restore the proven safeguards established after the Great Depression, which separated Main Street banks from big Wall Street firms."
Senator Cantwell vowed to work on strengthening the bill during conference, including tightening derivatives regulations. Many of the stronger amendments were voted down by the Senate over the past few weeks, or were withdrawn.
New Jersey Senators vote 'yes'
Senator Frank Lautenberg praised the final legislation but called it a "step" toward holding big banks accountable.
Senator Menendez also expressed hope that a stronger bill would emerge from conference. Menendez serves on the Senate Banking Committee and a number of key provisions that he had requested are in the final Senate bill, including:
- requires disclosure of CEO-to-average worker pay ratio
- requires credit rating agencies to use a universal standard for corporate and municipal bonds, lowering financing costs for towns
- creates a permanent Financial Education and Counseling Program to make grants available for financial education
- expands protections for whistle-blowers
- prohibits brokers from voting client shares on CEO compensation: prohibits brokers from voting uninstructed client shares in votes on “say on pay” and other decisions
The House passed its version of financial reform in December. The two houses will now reconcile the two versions in conference before sending the final consolidated bill to President Obama for his signature. Financial reform has been a key priority for President Obama and he expects to sign final legislation by July.
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President Barack Obama praises Senate for moving forward on financial reform.
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