Yesterday I reported that Senate leadership had reached agreement that amendments would have a simple majority vote, which would have been good news. Unfortunately, that agreement was for yesterday's amendments, only. So the vote thresholds will apparently be determined as we go.
That fact seriously factors in to the prosect for key amendments that are quickly gaining support, including the support of Harry Reid.
Harry Reid will make sure that an amendment to break up megabanks and cap their size comes up for a vote, the Senate majority leader said. He added that he was leaning heavily toward voting for the amendment, cosponsored by Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Ted Kaufman (D-Del.).
Reid will also support an amendment from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that will authorize an audit of the Federal Reserve, he said.
On Wednesday, Reid was noncommittal when asked by reporters at a briefing about the two major amendments. In an interview in his office with the Huffington Post on Thursday, Reid went further when asked if he'd considered the amendments since the briefing.
"I'll probably vote for it," Reid said. Does that mean it'll come up for a vote?
"Oh, it's going to come up. I'll make sure it comes up," said Reid of the Brown-Kaufman amendment. "Unless my staff convinces me differently. But what I know about it, I'll vote for it."
....
Reid's backing gives Brown-Kaufman two powerful backers. On Tuesday, Reid second in command, Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), said on the Senate floor he was backing the measure.
The success of these amendments is likely to rest on whether they'll have simple majority or 60 vote thresholds. One of them, the Sanders' Fed audit amendment, will come up today, and it will have a simple majority vote, meaning 51 votes would pass it. But a new wrinkle came up today that brings its passage into question.
The White House is hoping to cobble together a separate proposal, to be offered as an alternative to Sanders' backers. The so called "side-by-side" would give them cover to vote down the Fed audit amendment, by offering them them a weaker plan to support....
"[T]he White House and the banking committee chairman, Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut [are] scrounging for ideas for a so-called side-by-side amendment -- an alternate proposal on the Fed that would give senators something to support while offering them cover to vote down the Sanders measure."
Sanders has 22 co-sponsors so far for his amendment. Because of the strong White House opposition, Dems will likely be easy to peel away if they have the weaker alternative to vote for for cover. Reid has said he's not aware of this White House effort and hasn't been approached by the White House on either amendment.
MinistryOfTruth and pronin2 have more discussion in their diaries.
Update: The Sanders amendment is up now. The White House has just offered its rationale for opposing the amendment but has tempered its opposition somewhat, though "administration officials declined to say whether the president would veto a bill that included the proposal."
In a briefing on Thursday, Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Neal Wolin expressed concern that the amendment, authored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), would damage the independence of the Fed -- either in perception or practice. The administration has pushed a side amendment that Wolin said would accomplish the goals of Sander's proposal but would not bring politics into monetary policy.
Answering that on the floor just now, Sanders is stressing that the amendment does not allow Congress to politicize the Fed or try to involve Congress in monetary policy, or impose any greater regulatory burden on the Fed. He stressed that the Fed will maintain its independence, but the amendment would just provide greater transparency.
We'll see whose argument wins in the next hour and a half or so.
Update 2: Just now on the floor, Sanders said that he had worked out new language with Dodd that was modifying the language in the amendment. They could have just worked out a compromise that will make both Sanders and the WH happy. Trying to find out more now.
Update 3: I've asked Sanders' office for more info on the modification of the amendment. In the meantime, Brian Beutler is on the Hill and reports
In order to allay some of the White House's and the Fed's concerns, Sanders has agreed to limit the scope of what the Government Accountability Office would be allowed to audit....
The amendment will still "allow the GAO to conduct a top-to-bottom audit of the Federal Reserve's emergency lending activities since December 1, 2007. In addition, the modifications require the Fed to put on its website all of the recipients of over $2 trillion in emergency assistance since December 1, 2007."