Reid to play chicken on Wall Street reform, daring GOP to filibuster

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has decided to
play a game of political chicken with Senate Republicans, daring them to kill a
Wall Street reform bill.

Reid said he plans to move ahead with immediate
consideration of the financial regulatory reform bill, despite a GOP pledge to
filibuster the measure.

“Remember, there are only 59 of us, so if a single
Republican is not willing to join with us, there will be no Wall Street
reform,” Reid said. “Republicans will have killed Wall Street reform. I am
confident that will not happen.”

{mosads}Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a crucial swing vote, said
Monday that she would support a Republican filibuster if Reid tried to advance
a bill crafted by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.).

But Democrats believe that even if Collins votes to block a
bill, other centrist Republicans, such as Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe, may vote to
allow debate.

A Democratic aide said Reid still hopes to bring the bill to
the floor by the end of this week.

“It’s time to move forward with this bill,” said the aide.
“Chairman Dodd has been negotiating with Republicans for months.”

Forty-one Republicans signed a letter to Reid urging him to
support bipartisan negotiations on the Banking and Agriculture panels, which
have jurisdiction over the legislation.

Reid argued that Dodd spent hours on Monday negotiating with
Sen. Richard Shelby (Ala.), ranking Republican on the Banking Committee.

The Democratic leader has shown little inclination to allow
these talks to stretch for another three or four weeks, a span Collins
estimated would be needed to produce a bipartisan compromise.

Instead, Reid has shown a willingness to force Republicans
to vote on and kill the legislation. If the bill derails, Democrats say they
will make it a prominent issue in the midterm elections.

“Let’s move forward in a bipartisan manner to get this bill
done as quickly as possible, go to conference with the House, have the
president sign a bill,” Reid said. “The sooner we do that, the more stable our
economy will be.”