Would that mean a simple majority to pass? ie: 51 Senate votes for passage, or could legislation formed by the commission still be filibustered by Republicans, which would then require 60 votes? If filibusters aren't allowed then I'd start worrying, especially if Obama is allowed to pick which Republicans would be on this commission.
I think the result of the Brown shock will be some changes in the White House. My guess is Rahm Emmanuel will be asked to leave. Emmanuel is referred to as the heavy-hand who strong-armed health care and much more. The MA senate race referendum is against Chicago-style back room deals. The people want bi-partisan cooperation and that will be hard with Emmanuel's history. Will the Democrats change or just placate the 24-hour news cycle and keep on the same track? If Emmanuel is pushed out will that renew calls for Geithner to go too? Hopefully not and Geithner was not part of strong arming and health care.
Headlines coming out from the WSJ Obama To Propose New Limits On Banks White House Plan Would Put New Scale Requirements On Bank Size White House Plan Would Put New Limits On Proprietary Trading At U.S. Banks
Need to read that last post on white house plans to limit trading size in big banks and similar point to this post. The WH said they would do this the past month. Is the WH new strategy to take care of more business in the Presidents budget due by Feb 1? And with executive powers? Look at this link on the WH pushing their own deficit commission over Senator Gregg's (NH-R) and Sen Conrad's Congressional deficit commission requiring Senate votes that the WH may feel it can no longer count on. http://mobile.thehill.com/homenews/...atens-fiscal-commission-agreement-part-1.html sorry see you addressed much of this above too.
WSJ full story out now after the release of the initial headlines. No talk of transaction tax. Obama to speak publicly about it tomorrow after meeting with Paul Volcker. When a link becomes available, I'll post it.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703405704575015052116046786.html 4 reasons the bank fee will pass. Same arguments I've been using and one more. The fee is deductible whereas a tax is not.
"Transaction tax in the stock market - Even a quarter of a cent tax on trades could generate billions for the American people and slow some of the arbitrage and day-trading that poisons the financial system. This tax would not be felt by Main Street Americans but only by the elite who squeeze money out of the system through extremely rapid trading that games the system and does not create enduring value. " http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-h-dinan/get-out-of-bed-with-the-b_b_429943.html COMMENT SECTION AT THE BOTTOM OF THAT PAGE.