Shelby, Key Republican Senator, Will Back Bank Trading Ban Amendment

Source: huffington post

Richard Shelby, the top-ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, will vote for a controversial amendment to ban banks from trading taxpayer-backed money for their own profit, he told HuffPost Wednesday. The amendment, cosponsored by Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), has been battling for a vote on the floor and is fiercely opposed by Wall Street.

Shelby's backing gives the bill a boost as it nears a floor showdown. Denied a vote earlier this week, Levin and Merkley have since attached it to an amendment guaranteed to get a vote, sponsored by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.).

Brownback's amendment is strongly opposed by progressives, consumer advocates and military officials, because it would exempt auto dealers from consumer financial protection rules.

On Wednesday, senior White House economic adviser Paul Volcker sent a letter to Merkley and Levin backing their amendment, which is patterned after an idea he has championed and which has become known the "Volcker Rule. <snip>

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/20/shelby-key-republican-sen_n_583760.html

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Sorry for the source. Unable to find elsewhere as yet.

Did the amendment get a vote? If so, did it pass?

It's funny how in a 24 hour news cycle, sometimes that isn't even fast enough for us.

How spoiled we've become.

Remaining issues:
The two issues still to be decided are a proposed ban on commercial banks carrying out speculative trades with their own money and an exemption for auto dealers acting as finance companies from oversight of the new consumer protection bureau.
President Obama, last week, came out with determined opposition to the auto dealer exemption.

http://www.examiner.com/x-5968-DC-Public-Policy-Examiner~y2010m5d20-Senate-invokes-cloture--30-debate-hours-remain--financial-reform-act-will-pass

So, good news/bad news. The Volcker rule can still make it into the bill but if so, it will be attached to the auto dealer exemption. I, frankly, can live with that. The Volcker rule is a big step in the right direction.

nt