Senate Republicans have done something quite interesting. The Volcker Rule was scheduled to be voted on as a separate amendment under Merkley-Levin just now. Unfortunately republicans blocked it.
Initially they needed 51 votes. They got it but the republicans wanted to set the threshold to 60. They got it. Now the Republicans aren't even allowing a vote.
GOP blocking Volcker Rule and Other Amendments
Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the top-ranking Republican on the Banking Committee, rose to object to a vote on one of the most talked-about amendments, cosponsored by Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.). Levin-Merkley would ban commercial banks from trading for their own benefit with taxpayer-backed money.
Shelby followed up by blocking a vote on an amendment from Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) that would have banned naked credit default swaps, which were at the heart of the financial crisis. Dorgan's amendment was expected to fail, but Levin-Merkley had been surging in recent days.
When it looked as if Levin-Merkley had at least 50 votes, the threshold was moved up to 60. Now that it appears within striking distance of 60 votes, the new tactic is to deny it a vote altogether.
To be fair to Sen. Shelby, he's not the one objecting to these amendments. Folks in his party are. He's just the one standing up for them. Let them stand in the light of day and let the American people judge them. This is outrageous.
The only way around this would be if Dodd were to place Merkley-Levin in the Manager's amendment, but that's unlikely because he'll need Shelby to do that.
Hence, here we are. At a stalemate.