http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100428/ap_on_bi_ge/us_financial_overhaul/printBy JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer Jim Kuhnhenn, Associated Press Writer
3 mins ago
.WASHINGTON – Republicans set the stage Wednesday for removing their blockade against legislation to tighten regulations on Wall Street, saying they still hope to change the bill on the Senate floor after reaching an impasse on consumer protection.
The end in talks comes after Sen. Richard
Shelby, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, received assurances that Democrats will adjust the bill to address GOP concerns that it would perpetuate bailouts of banks. <Sure, Shelby, we'll can the perpetual baliouts... which weren't in the law anyway, you ass! >
But Shelby said he and Banking committee chairman Christopher Dodd could no longer find common ground on other provisions of the bill, including Dodd's consumer protection language that Republicans say goes too far.
"Now that those bipartisan negotiations have ended, it is my hope that the majority's avowed interest in improving this legislation on the Senate floor is genuine and the partisan gamesmanship is over," Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said.
Shelby said that in blocking the bill Republicans had given him time to address the bailout questions. He said he would now "defer to their individual judgments on whether the Senate begins a floor debate on this bill."
Dodd said he and Shelby had been engaged in productive talks. "But I cannot agree to his desire to weaken consumer protections given the enormous abuses we have seen."
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