WASHINGTON — For the third time in as many days, senators voted against bringing the massive financial regulatory reform bill before the full Senate for consideration.
The vote was 56 to 42, as the upper chamber again failed to muster the 60 votes needed to move the bill forward. This time Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., joined Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and the entire Republican minority so he could enter a motion to reconsider the matter at a later date. Only a lawmaker on the winning side of a vote can bring such a motion.
The vote came after Senate Banking Committee chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., Reid, and their colleagues told reporters at a briefing that the Republican efforts to stall the bill hurts retirees who lost a lot of money during the financial crisis. Without the bill, he said, the nation is not prepared for a future crisis.
Republicans counter that they are trying to negotiate a stronger reform bill.
