Russ Feingold and Maria Cantwell maintained their opposition to moving forward with the Wall Street reform bill today, but cloture passed, 60-40 . Reid picked up Arlen Specter, who wasn't in town to vote yesterday, and switched Republican Scott Brown who joined Snowe and Collins. Apparently the deal Harry Reid hinted at yesterday to secure Cantwell's vote didn't gel.
So the derivatives loophole Cantwell had been attempting to close could remain open--it's unclear now how or whether it can be addressed post-cloture. This means it's likely that most of the strengthening amendments progressives have been pushing will not be heard. On the floor following the vote, Reid made reference to the need to work out with the Republicans how the next 30 hours of debate will be handled.
At this point, the Senate can only deal with amendments that the Parliamentarian deems germane, and Senators are probably scrambling right now to figure out how to work their amendments in. We know that there is one definite strengthening amendment coming, Merkley-Levin, which unfortunately creates a Solomon's choice for Dems. In order to ensure that it got a vote, Sen. Merkley attached it as a second degree amendment to the awful Brownback car dealers' exemption from regulation by the consumer protection agency the bill sets up.
Dem Senators are in a bit of a bind on that one. Merkley-Levin lives or dies with Brownback. Since it's attached, if Brownback fails, Merkley-Levin fails. And vice-versa. That's how it goes with the Senate.