WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans yesterday stalled efforts to overhaul Wall Street, but Democrats, saying they were convinced Americans want a regulatory crackdown, insisted they would ultimately prevail.
With bipartisan talks continuing on the measure, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said GOP lawmakers were “weaker” after they prevented the start of debate on President Obama’s reform bill.
“They are stopping this,” Boxer said. “People understand that taxpayers are on the hook for billions of dollars, and they understand we have to fix this. The polls are overwhelming.”
Obama said he was “deeply disappointed” that Senate Republicans blocked debate on the bill, sponsored by Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), saying it appeared to be part of a misguided strategy to prevent Wall Street from being held accountable.
Democrats needed 60 votes to open debate. The motion failed, 57-41. One Democrat, Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, joined the Republicans on the vote.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell sought to rally his members, arguing that a vote to delay debate was not a vote against regulation but for a bipartisan bill.
“All of us want to deliver a reform that will tighten the screws on Wall Street,” McConnell said. “But we’re not going to be rushed on another massive bill based on the assurances of our friends on the other side.”
Meanwhile, a poll out yesterday showed nearly two-thirds of Americans — 65 percent — support stricter financial regulations. Just 31 percent oppose it.
What’s worse for Republicans, Americans appear to reject their argument that Obama is overreaching with intrusive government regulation of businesses.
About 59 percent supported “increased federal oversight” of the way banks and other financial firms operate, according to the ABC News/Washington Post poll.
Democrats have pilloried Republicans for protecting an industry that is widely blamed for causing the country’s largest economic meltdown since the Great Depression.
Nevertheless, Republicans claimed they gained clout in continuing talks on the bill.
They will be pushing alternative legislation that outlaws government bailouts of failing banks and requires Congress to sign off before regulators intervene in a financial crisis.
Other hot-button items Democrats bring to the negotiating table include a $50 billion bailout fund financed by financial firms and a proposal to add in a controversial bank tax, or “responsibility fee,” that is backed by the White House.
The Democratic bill would ban derivative trading by banks. That measure alone is estimated to cost New York’s big banks millions of dollars in lost revenue.