The final count was 260 to 166, with 10 Democrats voting in opposition and 18 Republicans voting in support.

Senate Democrats, of course, have shown little interest in considering the reform bill, which restricts the Treasury Department’s spending of the second half of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout. Leaders in the upper chamber have indicated instead that they’ll put their faith in the promises of the Obama administration to spend the cash more effectively than the last White House did.

Time will judge which chamber — the House or Senate — was the wiser.