CNN is reporting that retiring Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, is set to break ranks with his party over the financial regulatory reform bill:
The American people "want us to get something done," Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, said in explaining why he would eventually join Democrats in insisting that the bill be debated on the floor.
Voinovich, who is not seeking re-election in November, would not say exactly how long he would wait before switching his vote but said, "I have an idea of how much time it takes to cut a deal." He also said he expects "a whole bunch" of other Republicans to make the same decision.
That means that Harry Reid needs just one more defector (to replace the lost vote of the odious Ben Nelson) to move forward.
Elsewhere, it appears that Teacher needs to investigate whether the Republicans are copying someone else's homework.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Party of No are circulating a 20 page summary of "their own financial overhaul plan" to pet journalists. However, we mere mortals aren't allowed to see it. So I'll rely on Matt Yglesias for a summary:
Overall it’s extremely vague, but appears to be . . . staggeringly similar to what’s already in Chris Dodd’s bill.
If this is so, I say the Dems should scrap their own bill and introduce this one instead so that the Rs can start filibustering it!
UPDATE:
TPM is reporting that Mitch McConnell's jowls are quivering even more than usual - he is planning to "declare victory and go home":
Prelude To A Cave: McConnell Says GOP Financial Reform Filibuster Was 'Very Useful Exercise'
Republicans are inching toward breaking their filibuster. This morning on the Senate floor, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, sounding resigned to the fact that the Democrats outlasted him, dropped all talk of allowing negotiations to continue, and turned his attention to measures in the Democrats' bill he wants to see fixed.
UPDATE 2:
Today's vote failed again, with all the R's and Ben Nelson voting "no". However, this was not unexpected. As noted above, Voinovich is clearly saying the filibuster cannot hold and he will break it if no one else does; Susan Collins said something similar(although she apparently walked it back a bit on The Today Show this morning.
Not today, but tomorrow or the day after.
This is turning into a have your cake and eat it too event - the stalling is bound to fail but yet in the meantime the Republicans perpetuate a PR disaster for themselves.
UPDATE 3:
TPM reports:
Senate Democrats plan to continuously ask for unanimous consent to begin debate overnight, forcing Republicans to say and object to each request, say Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Dick Durbin (D-IL).
From Durbin: "The voting is up to the majority leader, how often they vote. Staying in session? Making unanimous consent requests? Those things are all options."
McCaskill tweeted:
Plan is to stay all night asking consent of Republicans to let us debate Wall Street reform. I just don't get why we can't debate.