The US Senate failed Wednesday to end debate on the most sweeping overhaul of financial industry rules since the Great Depression of the 1930s, clouding the fate of a key White House priority. Lawmakers voted 57-42 to move to final passage of the legislation, falling just shy of the 60-vote threshold needed to advance President Barack Obama's top domestic goal amid deep election-year anger at big banks.
Democrats described the move as a stinging but temporary procedural setback, with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada vowing to rally the necessary support to "pass and enact Wall Street reform as soon as possible." Bucking their leaders, who had hoped to hold a final vote as early as Thursday, two of Obama's Democratic allies joined all but two Republicans to turn back the motion, setting the stage for more bitter debate on the bill.
The measure aims to rein in big firms' use of high-risk practices blamed for the global economic meltdown of 2008, end taxpayer-funded bailout of financial titans previously deemed "too big to fail," and create an unprecedented consumer protection agency to shield Americans from industry abuses.
It also aims to curb big banks lucrative, largely unregulated business in complex securities called derivatives, essentially bets on the future cost of an asset, which many businesses use to control risk from volatile prices. And it includes several measures aimed at increasing the transparency at the US Federal Reserve and the central bank's accountability.
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