Is a Breakthrough Close on Financial Reform?

TalkingPointsMemo reports:

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee who's been in financial reform talks with chairman Chris Dodd, tells TPMDC's Brian Beutler that an agreement is close at hand.

"We're very close to a deal and there will be a substantial number of Republicans that go along with it," Shelby said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said he expects to bring the bill to the Senate floor at the end of this week or early next week.

Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), another financial reform negotiator who had dinner last night with Shelby, said today he expects all 100 senators to vote to begin debate on the bill. Corker guessed the final bill would be able to pass with 70 or 80 votes.

Another component to reform, a derivatives regulation bill, was approved by the Agriculture Committee this afternoon [by a vote of 13 to 8, with the support of Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa] and will be integrated into the banking bill.

Similarly, a story in this morning's Washington Post reports that "[k]ey Senate Republicans * * * [have begun] to back away from their sharp criticism of proposed new financial regulations and [have] expressed optimism that a bipartisan deal on a bill that would drastically change the way Wall Street operates could emerge in the coming days."