Still counting heads on FinReg bill..

[DCBob]

From Wash Post..

The Senate could hold a final vote next week. But it won't be a cakewalk. Democrats need 60 votes to overcome the threat of a GOP filibuster, and getting that could prove difficult, at least in the short term. For starters, the recent death of Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) left Democrats minus a vote, and aides said party leaders are waiting on West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin III, a Democrat, to fill the empty seat before moving forward. Even then, the math doesn't get any easier.

When the Senate passed an earlier version of the bill in May, four Republicans supported it: Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, Charles Grassley of Iowa and Scott Brown of Massachusetts. Two Democrats -- Maria Cantwell of Washington and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin -- opposed it, saying it didn't go far enough. Cantwell, pleased with changes made to provisions dealing with financial derivatives, has said she will vote for the amended bill. Collins has also voiced support. Grassley and Brown have remained noncommittal. Both have expressed concerns about efforts to make the bill budget neutral by ending the Troubled Assets Relief Program early and applying estimated savings from the unused funds toward the cost of the bill, as well as by raising premiums paid by banks to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Democratic aides said they aren't counting on Grassley's vote but are hoping for Brown's, considering that Dodd made notable changes to the bill based on some of the freshman senator's concerns. In either case, Democrats are hoping the margin isn't as razor thin as the last time around. "We usually need one or two more , because no one wants to be the 6oth vote," said Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.). But, he added, "once we have the votes lined up, we won't hesitate to go to the floor" for a final vote.

more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/09/AR2010070905429.html

This may require another multi-vote marathon to squeeze out those final one or two votes.

[3waygeek]

1. Unfortunately, many of those heads...

have at least two faces.