No FinReg Cloture Vote Today; Dodd Withdraws Punt on Derivatives

There’s a ton of last-minute changes currently happening to Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) financial regulatory reform bill. Below are my updates on the most important ones.

First: No cloture vote at 2 p.m. The Senate will vote on amendments instead, and the bill will still be up for debate. Notably, this means that senators can propose and get votes on new amendments, not just secondary or already-offered ones.

Second: Dodd says that he will withdraw his amendment pushing off consideration of Sen. Blanche Lincoln’s (D-Ark.) derivatives language for two years. If adopted, Lincoln’s proposal would go into effect as written.

Third: Read Mike Konczal for an explanation of Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Carl Levin’s (D-Mich.) amendment on the Volcker Rule. The Dodd bill as-is punts on the question of forcing banks to break up commercial and investment banking functions, though a broad swath of economists, public policy scholars and market experts believe it is one of the better ways to keep banking safe. The Merkley-Levin amendment would more quickly institute a stronger version. Initially, it seemed the amendment would not come up for a vote due to some parliamentary procedural politicking yesterday. (See David Dayen for a run-down.)

Now, Merkley and Levin have tacked their amendment onto Sen. Sam Brownback’s (R-Kans.) amendment exempting automakers from Consumer Financial Protection Agency rulings — basically forcing a vote on their amendment. (Since the cloture vote will not happen today, though, I wonder if Merkley and Levin will not attempt to reapply it as a primary stand-alone amendment.)

Finally: Watch the floor debate live below, courtesy of the Sunlight Foundation: