House and Senate negotiators thought they'd cleared a final version of the sweeping financial overhaul bill... until Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) said he wouldn't support it unless a new $19 billion tax on large banks and hedge funds was removed. Conferees met again Tuesday, The Boston Globe reports, and "agreed on a new way to pay for the additional regulatory oversight in the sweeping legislation, which is intended to help prevent another economic crisis" — replacing the tax with $11 billion in unused bank bailout funds and a small hike in FDIC bank fees. Why is Brown wielding his swing vote — even more crucial after the death of Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) — to mess with a done deal? (Watch a Bloomberg report about Brown's change of heart)
Brown's helping out the banks: "So the banks are getting a new regulatory structure meant to prevent another round of chaotic failures, but Brown doesn't think they should have to pay for it," says Ezra Klein in The Washington Post. Instead, he seems to think that "other programs and services should be cut" to prevent another mess of the banks' own making. "Maybe the Tea Partiers are more pro-bank than I'd thought."
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