The Senate passed the Wall Street reform bill, 60 to 39, with Republican Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine and Scott Brown of Massachusetts joining 57 Democrats for the vote. The 60 Senators were also able to limit debate and move the bill forward; President Obama, who is expected to sign it into law next week, said, "From now on every American will be empowered with the clear and concise information they need to make financial information that are best for you. This bill will crack down on unscrupulous mortgage lenders."
The Wall Street Journal reports the bill "marks a potential sea change for the financial-services industry. Mammoth financial firms such as J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp. face changes to almost every part of their businesses, from debit cards to derivatives trading and the ability to invest in hedge funds." And:
"The process now hands off to 10 regulatory agencies the discretion to write hundreds of new rules governing finance. It will be this process—accompanied by a lobbying blitz from banks—that will determine the precise contours of this new landscape, how strict the new regulations will be and whether they succeed in their purpose. The decisions will be made by officials at new agencies, obscure agencies and, in some cases, agencies tagged with failure in the run-up to the financial crisis."
Russ Feingold of Wisconsin was the lone Democrat vote against the bill, saying it didn't go far enough. And Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said, "[This bill] is widely expected to stifle growth and kill jobs." But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) said, "We want to make sure this disaster never happens again... No more bailouts. No bank is too big to fail."
