It's not dead yet, but it's the first filibuster vote, and the Dems (America) lost.
A sweeping proposal to revamp Wall Street suffered a legislative setback today when the Senate failed to bring the measure to the floor for debate.
Voting 57-41, Senate Democrats could not muster the 60 votes needed to overturn the threat of a GOP filibuster and begin formal debate on the bill, which has become President Obama's top priority following his success on health care.
Sen. Ben Nelson, a centrist Democrat from Nebraska, voted with 39 Republicans against advancing the measure. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., switched his vote to "no" on the measure -- a procedural move that allows him to call for a new vote later this week.Here's the vote tally. And David over at DailyKos has some great analysis of the political dynamics.
Senate Democrats likely think the issue of Wall Street reform breaks down fairly well for them in terms of putting pressure on the Republicans blocking reform, such that repeated attempts at invoking cloture won't be seen so much as a failure to "get things done" as an illustration of Republican intransigence on behalf of Public Enemy #1: Wall Street tycoons who love to rip off ordinary working people and then wallow naked in their stolen retirement funds. Let's hope they're up to the game. There's no reason to think protecting the Gordon Geckos of the world is going to become more popular any time soon.
