The Republicans have folded in the Senate. Throughout the afternoon, every indication was that the GOP’s filibuster effort had crumbled and that several, perhaps many, Republican senators would cross over and vote to bring financial reform to the floor for debate. We were expecting a vote at this hour. But the Senate is dispensing with a vote entirely, and will bring the bill to the floor by unanimous consent (meaning everyone agrees and there’s no need to even vote on it).
That doesn’t mean the fight is over. There will be another 60 votes needed now to cut off debate and actually vote on the bill. That is another opportunity for the GOP to delay and posture. But that is appearing less likely as time goes by. Â What we anticipate is several days of Senate debate, with a long series of votes on various amendments to the bill, followed by a cloture vote that a handful or more of Republicans join Democrats on, then a final vote passing the bill along roughly the same margins, maybe late next week, probably the week after.
