Reg reform, D.C. bill and the filibuster

Now that healthcare reform is the law of the land, many lawmakers on Capitol Hill are jockeying for position to get their bill on the agenda.

While some are pushing for climate change and others are pressing for immigration reform, financial regulatory reform is the White House’s focus now.

{mosads}Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) defied the predictions of many pundits last week when he persuaded all 41 Senate Republicans to unify against Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) financial regulatory reform bill.

Some Democrats believed that at least one Republican would be with them. But McConnell convinced his GOP colleagues that Democrats were not giving them a fair shake.

An exasperated Dodd, who has been talking on and off with Republicans for months on his bill, said on the Senate floor late last week, “As frustrated as I am, my door has never been shut. … But I will not sit around days on end in the rope-a-dope game.”

The White House wants a bill to pass and Republicans don’t want to block this politically popular measure for a long amount of time, so it’s a good bet that some deal will be struck.

Dodd is well-aware that if a bill isn’t close to becoming law by Memorial Day of an election year, it’s probably dead.

Along those lines, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) has called for a floor vote on a measure that would give Washington, D.C., a voting representative in the lower chamber and an additional seat for Utah. A side dispute over gun rights in the District has derailed the measure, but key
Democrats, including Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), are now willing to weaken the District’s gun control laws to get the voting bill passed.

Even if the bill moves through the House, significant obstacles loom in the Senate.

Meanwhile, the Senate Rules Committee on Thursday is scheduled to hold a hearing on the history of the filibuster. The hearing could begin the process of Democrats laying the groundwork to rewrite the filibuster rules.