Democrat Ben Nelson Votes Against Moving Forward With Financial Regulation

[pinto]

Ms. Lowrey suggests that failure to get (R) Olympia Snowe's vote opened the door for his bail on the cloture vote. This is the complete Wash Independent post at this time. ~ pinto

Democrat Ben Nelson Votes Against Moving Forward With Financial Regulation{/b]
By Annie Lowrey 4/26/10 5:40 PM

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) has voted no on the cloture motion to start debate on Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) financial regulatory reform bill — meaning the motion will likely fail, 58 to 42, short of the 60 votes needed. Republicans will tout this as an extraordinary victory demonstrating bipartisan opposition to moving forward on financial regulation until the bill is tried, tested and sorted. But my guess is that Nelson knew the motion would not pass, having failed to garner Sen. Olympia Snowe’s (R-Maine) vote earlier today, and decided not to vote for it at that point.

Regardless, the optics are terrible. Nelson’s “Cornhusker kickback” delayed health care reform. Today, news broke that Warren Buffett, the head of Berkshire Hathaway and a resident of Omaha, lobbied for the Senate Agriculture Committee, on which Nelson sits, to create a derivatives loophole that would benefit his company to the tune of billions, a proposal Senate Democrats swatted down. And now, Nelson is holding up progress on the financial front again.

http://washingtonindependent.com/83204/democrat-ben-nelson-votes-against-moving-forward-with-financial-regulation

[lib2DaBone]

1. More every day.. sounds like he belongs with Joe Liberman....

[Jefferson23]

2. I can't even say out loud how much contempt I have for these whores. n/t

[proudohioan]

5. You and me both!!!! nt

[Clyde39]

6. Ditto!

[Jefferson23]

3. GOP vote: No debate on banking reform

By Andrew Leonard

The Democrats fail to break a Republican filibuster. No surprise there, but now it gets interesting.

The key words in most political coverage of banking reform published late Monday: "As expected," Republicans came through on their vow to stall any progress on passing bank reform legislation. The Democrats could not get the 60 votes necessary to start debate on the bill. The only (mild) surprise: Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson's decision to join the Republicans in voting no, presumably because he was irritated that his fellow Democrats weren't willing to do Warren Buffett's bidding.

There was zero drama in this denouement. Republicans had been promising to filibuster and Democrats were hoping, for political reasons, that they would fulfill their promise. So everybody's happy!

The next few days, however, should give us some hints as to who really has the power. If Democrats want to play hardball, they'll make no concessions to the GOP, and call another cloture vote in a couple of days. Then we'll find out exactly how intransigent Republicans intend to be. On the flip side, now that Republicans have demonstrated their solidarity, it's possible that the behind-the-scenes dealmaking will intensify, and we'll start hearing about "compromises" that everyone can live with.

Of course, what the bill really needs is to be strengthened in directions that run opposite to GOP desires. The Consumer Financial Protection Agency should be given more independence, and tougher measures cracking down on the size and power of the big banks should be instituted. And why not? From a political point of view, there would certainly be no better way to ensure that Republicans maintain their obstructionism than to present them with a new, improved, industrial-strength bill.

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But that's not to be, uh, expected. Act I in this kabuki drama has just been completed, with both Republicans and Democrats fulfilling their preordained roles. Next up, Act II, in which the most likely scenario is that the bill gets watered down, giving cover to a handful of moderate GOP members.

Due up tomorrow: A likely tsunami of political grandstanding when Goldman Sachs executives testify before the Senate's permanent committee on investigations. If there's one thing Democrats and Republicans can agree on right now, it's that being nice to Goldman Sachs earns you no brownie points, this week.

http://www.salon.com/news/bank_reform/index.html?story=/tech/htww/2010/04/26/banking_reform_vote_2

[JohnWxy]

4. this schmuck is a Corporate Lobbyist Partier (GOP). He's no Democrat.

[progressoid]

7. Ben fucks it up again.

[jtrockville]

8. When is he up for re-election?

[barbtries]

9. i just wrote a nasty letter to richard burr

(one of my senators in NC). i am so tired of the republicans and their fucking obstructionism. don't even get me started on ben nelson and his fucking temper tantrums.