President Obama scored another big legislative victory in the Senate tonight.
The Senate approved a far-reaching financial regulation bill Thursday evening, paving the way for enactment of the most extensive reworking of financial oversight in generations and a second major legislative victory of the year for President Obama and congressional Democrats.
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The Senate voted 59 to 39 in favor of the legislation. It came just hours after 60 senators voted to end the debate on the measure — the minimum required. Two discontented Democrats broke party ranks to vote against the measure but Republican Sens. Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, and Scott Brown of Massachusetts, voted to proceed.
Some good things remained in the bill, like the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (although a weakened version of Carper’s amendment did pass) and Bernie Sanders’s Fed audit amendment. Other good ideas failed to make the bill such as banning of naked credit default swaps, reinstitution of Glass Steagel or breaking up the “too big to fail” banks. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction.