Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd announced late Tuesday that he had secured the 60 votes needed to pass financial reform in the Senate with Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine agreeing to support the bill.
The announcement clears the decks for the bill to be approved by the Senate, where the chamber could take up the bill as soon as this week. Senate action is the last step needed for President Obama to sign regulatory reform into law.
The House approved the sweeping reform legislation last month.
Dodd commended the three Republicans who have agreed to support the bill in a press release Tuesday night.
"Today is a good day for Main Street America. With the support of Senators Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, and Scott Brown, Wall Street reform is a step away from heading to the President's desk to be signed into law," the Connecticut Democrat said. "These colleagues demonstrated how bipartisanship is supposed to work. When they had concerns about the bill they worked with members of both parties to see that they were addressed, and in return they were all able to make significant contributions to this bill. I thank Senators Collins, Snowe, and Brown for their efforts which made this a stronger bill."
