WASHINGTON – Senate Republicans stood together a third straight day yesterday to filibuster the Democrats’ bank reform bill, but agreed last night to move the bill to a debate on the Senate floor.
"The continued back and forth over this legislation illustrates the level of its significance in the Senate,” said John Magill, chief lobbyist for CUNA. “We still expect the bill to move forward at some point. That's why we have been at the table from the beginning and have had success at improving the bill for credit unions.” He was referring to provisions that exempted all but three credit unions with more than $10 billion in assets from being examined by the new consumer financial protection agency.
Republicans submitted their own alternative to the 1,560-page Democrat bill, which would water down provisions of the consumer protection scheme and limit financial assistance to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, among other counter-proposals. The Republican bill also would exempt auto dealers from the consumer agency.
The Republicans continued to oppose a $50 billion fund that would be created by assessments on the biggest financial institutions and used to wind down the next failure of a bank that poses a threat to the financial system, such as Lehman Brothers or AIG. Republicans have demanded that the fund be dropped.
