Parties working together on financial regulatory bill in Senate

[TomCADem]

Source: Washington Post

Something unusual is taking place on the Senate floor: Republicans and Democrats are working together on a major piece of legislation.

Almost as the founders planned it, senators are considering amendments to a massive financial regulatory bill without any of the usual procedural obstructions that eat up time and force 60-vote thresholds before anything can happen. Democrats are co-sponsoring Republican amendments and vice versa, and some measures are winning unanimous or near-unanimous majorities.

Lawmakers in both parties have embraced the freewheeling environment as a break from the bitter partisanship that marred the health-care debate. That acrimony still lingers over the Senate. Bipartisan talks on immigration and climate change collapsed last week, and Republicans are refusing to release "holds" on scores of executive branch nominees.

But the seamless Republican opposition that had been the hallmark of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's tenure has frayed in recent weeks. GOP senators are forging alliances with Democrats and voting against measures offered by fellow Republicans. They are trying to reshape a bill they don't like the old-fashioned way -- in an open process on the Senate floor.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/07/AR2010050705096.html

---

Interesting what happens when the bill actually gets debated and when the Republicans just don't throw a blanket roadblock. Sadly, McConnell's claim to fame is the ability to bring the Senate to a grinding halt.

[Iliyah]

1. GOP sees

advantage in doing so, and trust me, they will take complete and sole credit for the passing of the regulatory bill, plus they see their polls numbers going down hill, and their masters, one being evil rove probably schooling them to work with the pussy dems and then crash them!

[cstanleytech]

2. Considering the past stunts from the GOP though the cynic in me is waiting for them to say

"April Fool's" and/or "Just Kidding".

[SkyDaddy7]

6. They will!

They will take this to the end and then say the Dems are taking over the banking system or some BS...Then stop the bill!

[DJ13]

3. GOP sees advantage in doing so

Yep.

They were afraid to sit this one out because they were hired....er....elected to represent the interests of the financial firms this is dealing with.

It was imperative they get involved so they could water down the resulting reforms.

[tomm2thumbs]

4. publicly working the carpet while privately undermining the legislation and putting in loopholes

that goes for both sides in the financial regulatory reform actually, but the GOP has it down to a science

[BumRushDaShow]

5. I'm sure Phil Gramm is working furiously behind the scenes. n/t

[FailureToCommunicate]

7. This is an Onion headline, right? This doesn't pass the sniff test...

[penndragon69]

8. It's election time.

They need to make it look good for the fall campaign in order to save their
wall street loving behinds. Then of course, they will vote "NO" on the bill claiming that it is too weak
and does not get to the root of the problem.
Their amendment would have solved all the problems but naturally the Democrats
prevented it from being included in the final bill.

[Ian David]

9. GOP Offers to Hold Football While Charlie Brown Kicks. n/t

[msongs]

10. Repubs, Summers, Geithner, working to weaking the bill asap nt

[applegrove]

11. They had no choice. If they voted against any bill they would be showing themselves as loyal to

their real base (the rich) vs. their political base (the wingnuts). They were boxed in by circumstances.