The Other McCain

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Could Scott Brown Kill The Frank’n’Dodd Wall Street Reform?

Posted on | June 27, 2010 | 27 Comments

by Smitty (via The Corner)

Reuters reports:

Brown’s possible defection from the bill increases the chance of a successful Republican filibuster this time unless Democratic leaders can find another vote.
Democrats control 57 seats in the Senate and Republicans 41. Two independents usually vote with the Democrats. It takes 60 votes to end a filibuster.
“While I’m still reviewing the bill’s details, these provisions were not in the Senate version of the bill which I previously supported … I’ve said repeatedly that I cannot support any bill that raises tax,” Brown said.
A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Henry Reid had no comment on Saturday when asked if Brown’s concerns posed a serious obstacle to final passage of the bill.
The three other Republicans that voted for the financial regulatory reform package in May were Senator Susan Collins and Senator Olympia Snowe, both of Maine, and Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa.
A spokeswoman for Grassley said he was still evaluating the conference report.
Two Democrats, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Maria Cantwell of Washington, voted against the Senate financial regulatory reform package in May.

I’m all for seeing a de facto shut down of Congress until the next election.
Nothing good has, or likely can, come from the slow-motion heist known as the 111th Congress.

Update: Senator Byrd is in the hospital. Pray he comes to and does no harm.

Update II: Heh

Category: Congress, Connecticut, Massachusetts

Comments

27 Responses to “Could Scott Brown Kill The Frank’n’Dodd Wall Street Reform?”

  1. Rob
    June 27th, 2010 @ 8:15 pm

    Might be a good time to get into the Congressional Effect Fund. The ticker is CEFFX. You could make a KILLING (at least when the House is out)!

  2. Rob
    June 27th, 2010 @ 4:15 pm

    Might be a good time to get into the Congressional Effect Fund. The ticker is CEFFX. You could make a KILLING (at least when the House is out)!

  3. Terry in Georgia
    June 27th, 2010 @ 8:29 pm

    The numbers have changed since Byrd is in the hospital.

  4. Terry in Georgia
    June 27th, 2010 @ 4:29 pm

    The numbers have changed since Byrd is in the hospital.

  5. Dodd sheds tears over financial reform that makes Americans weep | Zingstrom's Blog
    June 27th, 2010 @ 4:50 pm

    […] may be a ray of hope for a Republican  filibuster against the Frank’n'Dodd Wall Street reform bill according to Smitty on The Other McCain blog. […]

  6. Dell
    June 27th, 2010 @ 9:07 pm

    Byrd’s vote would be critical…unfortunately, so is he. I wish him no ill…unlike the animals at HuffPo and Kos, commenting on Dick Cheney’s condition.

  7. Dell
    June 27th, 2010 @ 5:07 pm

    Byrd’s vote would be critical…unfortunately, so is he. I wish him no ill…unlike the animals at HuffPo and Kos, commenting on Dick Cheney’s condition.

  8. Terry in Georgia
    June 27th, 2010 @ 9:34 pm

    Not just with Frank’n’Dodd, but also with the DISCLOSE attack at freedom of speech — Senate votes for both bills is critical and tight. Freedom of speech is not hard to understand and should be protected for ALL.

    As a side note, Castle(DE) (famous Cap & Tr8or) who faced tough crowds at town hall meetings after his house vote has also voted for the DISCLOSE fiasco. His challenger for the primary is a very good alternative to another tr8or vote in the senate.

  9. Terry in Georgia
    June 27th, 2010 @ 5:34 pm

    Not just with Frank’n’Dodd, but also with the DISCLOSE attack at freedom of speech — Senate votes for both bills is critical and tight. Freedom of speech is not hard to understand and should be protected for ALL.

    As a side note, Castle(DE) (famous Cap & Tr8or) who faced tough crowds at town hall meetings after his house vote has also voted for the DISCLOSE fiasco. His challenger for the primary is a very good alternative to another tr8or vote in the senate.

  10. Bob Belvedere
    June 27th, 2010 @ 9:43 pm

    1) Let us pray that Brown shows some backbone this time.

    2) Congress is at it’s most dangerous in the few months before election time.

  11. Bob Belvedere
    June 27th, 2010 @ 5:43 pm

    1) Let us pray that Brown shows some backbone this time.

    2) Congress is at it’s most dangerous in the few months before election time.

  12. jefferson101
    June 27th, 2010 @ 11:20 pm

    “I’m all for seeing a de facto shut down of Congress until the next election.
    Nothing good has, or likely can, come from the slow-motion heist known as the 111th Congress.”

    Slow-motion heist? I’d hate to see a fast heist. We’d have been off the scales and into Zimbabawe-grade inflation by now, if if were any faster.

    Not that we might not still be, but whatever. Just to note that it’s not slow-motion. It’s too expansive to register with most people up front. Other than that, it’s the biggest robbery ever put together. Even if we stop it in the ’10 elections, we’ll spend 25 years paying it off, and we’ll never manage to recover any it from the thieves. The farging GOP will give them tax exemptions, usually.

  13. jefferson101
    June 27th, 2010 @ 7:20 pm

    “I’m all for seeing a de facto shut down of Congress until the next election.
    Nothing good has, or likely can, come from the slow-motion heist known as the 111th Congress.”

    Slow-motion heist? I’d hate to see a fast heist. We’d have been off the scales and into Zimbabawe-grade inflation by now, if if were any faster.

    Not that we might not still be, but whatever. Just to note that it’s not slow-motion. It’s too expansive to register with most people up front. Other than that, it’s the biggest robbery ever put together. Even if we stop it in the ’10 elections, we’ll spend 25 years paying it off, and we’ll never manage to recover any it from the thieves. The farging GOP will give them tax exemptions, usually.

  14. Adobe Walls
    June 27th, 2010 @ 11:40 pm

    I suspect they’ll be even more dangerous when they’re lame ducks between Nov and Jan.

  15. Adobe Walls
    June 27th, 2010 @ 7:40 pm

    I suspect they’ll be even more dangerous when they’re lame ducks between Nov and Jan.

  16. smitty
    June 27th, 2010 @ 11:48 pm

    @jefferson101,
    I say slow-motion because much of the thuggery is to occur in later years.
    Then you have the second-order effects that they kind of anticipate.
    Then you have the unintended consequences.

  17. smitty
    June 27th, 2010 @ 7:48 pm

    @jefferson101,
    I say slow-motion because much of the thuggery is to occur in later years.
    Then you have the second-order effects that they kind of anticipate.
    Then you have the unintended consequences.

  18. Dave C
    June 28th, 2010 @ 1:07 am

    Sen. Robert Byrd (Dem-Bigotry) is in the hospital..

    I hear the KKK are flying their sheets at half mast for him.

    But seriously.. I shouldn’t make fun of Sen. Byrd. He renounced his time at a recruiter for the KKK. That’s his own cross to bur– bear..

    Is this thing on?

  19. Dave C
    June 27th, 2010 @ 9:07 pm

    Sen. Robert Byrd (Dem-Bigotry) is in the hospital..

    I hear the KKK are flying their sheets at half mast for him.

    But seriously.. I shouldn’t make fun of Sen. Byrd. He renounced his time at a recruiter for the KKK. That’s his own cross to bur– bear..

    Is this thing on?

  20. jefferson101
    June 28th, 2010 @ 1:30 am

    Otay. I thought that the GOP giving the Unions raises and tax breaks were the “second-order” consequences”, but there may well be others.

    Since even if we do manage to win, we’ll have too many RINO’s on board to manage to actually repeal most any of it.

    Miracles could actually happen, but I got over expecting anything notable when Ronald Reagan broke his promise to eliminate a Cabinet Department or two.

    I’m still about the voting them out, but I’m keeping my powder dry, should it come to the point where we have to go to the third box.

    Soap Box, Ballot Box, and Cartridge Box, strictly in that order, right?

    I’d like to be optimistic enough to think that the second Box will still do it, but after 8 years of “Compassionate Conservative” governance, I’m not getting a warm fuzzy there.

  21. jefferson101
    June 27th, 2010 @ 9:30 pm

    Otay. I thought that the GOP giving the Unions raises and tax breaks were the “second-order” consequences”, but there may well be others.

    Since even if we do manage to win, we’ll have too many RINO’s on board to manage to actually repeal most any of it.

    Miracles could actually happen, but I got over expecting anything notable when Ronald Reagan broke his promise to eliminate a Cabinet Department or two.

    I’m still about the voting them out, but I’m keeping my powder dry, should it come to the point where we have to go to the third box.

    Soap Box, Ballot Box, and Cartridge Box, strictly in that order, right?

    I’d like to be optimistic enough to think that the second Box will still do it, but after 8 years of “Compassionate Conservative” governance, I’m not getting a warm fuzzy there.

  22. Estragon
    June 28th, 2010 @ 5:28 am

    It’s true Republicans in power do not have a good track record on spending or deficits, but the mood of the country is emboldening the timid and scaring the establishment. We obviously can’t undo what has been done already in spending, but health care can be repealed, and a sensible financial bill passed (which includes reining in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac).

    Reagan was blindsided upon taking office. Carter’s briefings during the campaign understated both the Soviet build-up and the decline in US preparedness and material. They were afraid if they told the Reagan team the whole story, it would be used in the campaign.

    Reagan knew the situation was bad – already in 1979, the respected independent British military publication Jane’s Review had for the first time estimated the USSR as the most powerful military force in the world, dropping the USA to #2 for the first time since WWII.

    Reagan was faced with a dire situation: we needed to drastically reinvest in military hardware and manpower in all the services, and in research into higher technologies, upgrade our aging mid-range missiles in Europe at a time when Euro=peon public opinion was against it, try with the UK’s Thatcher to hold together and strengthen NATO, and do it all with an oncoming fiscal train wreck and impending recession as Volcker squeezed the excess out of the monetary system.

    The result was that he had to abandon or modify some goals. Remember he never promised to CUT federal spending, only to limit the growth of DISCRETIONARY spending to the rate of inflation. The closing of the useless Departments of Education and Energy were not politically feasible with the more pressing challenges facing us.

    Reagan reached a deal with Tip O’Neill: he accepted a reduced and modified tax cut (25% over three years 5-10-10 instead of 30% at once), agreed to allow Democrats to spend domestically if they let his defense rebuilding through, and abandoned his plans to close the federal departments and agencies. But his defense strategy, opposed by the Left at home and abroad, led to the fall of the Berlin Wall less than eight years after The Gipper and Tip made their bargain, and the collapse of the Soviet Empire only two years after that.

    So, yeah, I guess Reagan didn’t come through on his promises on spending and closing unneeded departments and agencies, so he could win the Cold War and set the stage for the USA to be the world’s undisputed superpower both militarily and economically. A man has to have priorities. If we have screwed up the dominant position he bequeathed us, that’s on us, not on him.

  23. Estragon
    June 28th, 2010 @ 1:28 am

    It’s true Republicans in power do not have a good track record on spending or deficits, but the mood of the country is emboldening the timid and scaring the establishment. We obviously can’t undo what has been done already in spending, but health care can be repealed, and a sensible financial bill passed (which includes reining in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac).

    Reagan was blindsided upon taking office. Carter’s briefings during the campaign understated both the Soviet build-up and the decline in US preparedness and material. They were afraid if they told the Reagan team the whole story, it would be used in the campaign.

    Reagan knew the situation was bad – already in 1979, the respected independent British military publication Jane’s Review had for the first time estimated the USSR as the most powerful military force in the world, dropping the USA to #2 for the first time since WWII.

    Reagan was faced with a dire situation: we needed to drastically reinvest in military hardware and manpower in all the services, and in research into higher technologies, upgrade our aging mid-range missiles in Europe at a time when Euro=peon public opinion was against it, try with the UK’s Thatcher to hold together and strengthen NATO, and do it all with an oncoming fiscal train wreck and impending recession as Volcker squeezed the excess out of the monetary system.

    The result was that he had to abandon or modify some goals. Remember he never promised to CUT federal spending, only to limit the growth of DISCRETIONARY spending to the rate of inflation. The closing of the useless Departments of Education and Energy were not politically feasible with the more pressing challenges facing us.

    Reagan reached a deal with Tip O’Neill: he accepted a reduced and modified tax cut (25% over three years 5-10-10 instead of 30% at once), agreed to allow Democrats to spend domestically if they let his defense rebuilding through, and abandoned his plans to close the federal departments and agencies. But his defense strategy, opposed by the Left at home and abroad, led to the fall of the Berlin Wall less than eight years after The Gipper and Tip made their bargain, and the collapse of the Soviet Empire only two years after that.

    So, yeah, I guess Reagan didn’t come through on his promises on spending and closing unneeded departments and agencies, so he could win the Cold War and set the stage for the USA to be the world’s undisputed superpower both militarily and economically. A man has to have priorities. If we have screwed up the dominant position he bequeathed us, that’s on us, not on him.

  24. Roxeanne de Luca
    June 28th, 2010 @ 4:51 pm

    Um, Smitty? I’m pretty sure that it doesn’t take 41 votes to sustain a filibuster; it takes 60 to override one.

  25. Roxeanne de Luca
    June 28th, 2010 @ 12:51 pm

    Um, Smitty? I’m pretty sure that it doesn’t take 41 votes to sustain a filibuster; it takes 60 to override one.

  26. Rae
    June 29th, 2010 @ 7:52 pm

    Told ya…

    Of course, brother of the Maine sisters has no problem institutionalizing the “Too Big To Fails.”

    Tyranny has not come to America wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross, rather it has come via 2000+ page “reform” bills.

  27. Rae
    June 29th, 2010 @ 3:52 pm

    Told ya…

    Of course, brother of the Maine sisters has no problem institutionalizing the “Too Big To Fails.”

    Tyranny has not come to America wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross, rather it has come via 2000+ page “reform” bills.