The reason the bank bill does not have the votes is the Democrats in the middle of the night (3a.m.) inserted a tax on banks to the tune of $19 billion dollars that will surely be passed on to their customers (remember the Obama no new tax pledge-think again ).
It is reported that this taxation on banks has no basis or foundation to be allowed by law. This is what happens when you have hooligans and miscreants pushing the pen in Congress.
Here is more on this story by Silla Brush with The Hill.
Senate and House conferees on Wall Street reform are reconvening Tuesday because of Republican objections to $19 billion in fees that would be placed on big financial firms.
The meeting follows Sen. Scott Brown’s (R-Mass.) letter to the chairmen of the conference committee on Tuesday, in which he said he would oppose the Wall Street overhaul bill as it stands.
In a letter to Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), Brown expressed “strong opposition” to the fees that were added in the conference process between House and Senate lawmakers last week.
“If the final version of the bill contains these higher taxes, I will not support it,” he said. Maine Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, who like Brown had voted for the Senate version of Wall Street reform, which didn’t include the fees, have voiced similar concerns.
The objections have left Senate Democrats scrambling for a way to pass the bill.
To try to win Brown and others over, Democrats are looking to use unused money from the $700 billion financial bailout in place of the $19 billion in new fees, according to a Democratic aide.
House and Senate lawmakers agreed to the fees as part of the conference agreement last week on the 2,000 page bill.
The conference is expected to reconvene at 5 p.m., and Democrats plan to propose that the bailout package be shut down and that any unused money be used to offset the overhaul bill, according to the aide.
“Taxpayers will never again be on the hook for paying for the costs of any future bank failures,” the aide said.
The conference bill cannot be amended on the House and Senate floor, which would make a new conference meeting a requirement.
Brown said Democrats were wrong to add the fees to the report at a time of economic turmoil.
“It is wrong to impose higher taxes and ignore the impact it will have on our economy without considering other ways we might offset the costs of the measure,” Brown said. “I am asking that the conference committee find a way to offset the cost of the bill by cutting unnecessary federal spending. There are hundreds of billions in unspent federal funds sitting around, some authorized years ago for long-dead initiatives. Congress needs to start to looking there first, and I stand ready to help.”
Collins, who met with Dodd on Tuesday, said she also had problems with the fees.
“I expressed my concerns about the tax provisions that were added at the eleventh hour to the conference report,” Collins said of her meeting with the banking panel chairman. “That’s a real problem from my perspective.”
Collins said she said hasn’t made a final decision “because we’re not at that point.”
Asked how lawmakers should pay for the bill instead, Collins said “all decisions are being looked at.”
She also described the hour-long meeting with Dodd as “excellent.”
Sen. Robert Byrd’s (D-W.Va.) death on Monday had already sent Senate Democrats scrambling to shore up votes for the financial overhaul.
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) said Monday he would oppose the bill. That is putting pressure on Senate Democrats to win over the votes of Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and at least two Republicans.
If Byrd’s appointed successor votes with Democrats, they would still need two Republicans to vote with them even if Cantwell switches her position.I have heard good politics come from compromise. Why does Washington politics remind me of a sewage plant?
Jordan Fabian contributed to this story. This story was posted at 11:47 a.m. and updated at 2:54 p.m. and 3:48 p.m.
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