2 Votes Break Logjam on Financial Overhaul Bill

By EDWARD WYATT and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
NYT

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Wednesday approved two amendments to the financial regulatory bill that both Democrats and Republicans claimed would end the prospect of taxpayer-financed bailouts for companies deemed “too big to fail.”

The votes broke a logjam that had paralyzed the Senate floor for much of the last week, and Senate leaders said they were working on an agreement that would allow debate on the regulatory legislation to proceed at a quicker pace.

By a vote of 93 to 5, the Senate approved an amendment by Senator Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the Banking Committee, which was the result of weeks of negotiations with Senator Christopher J. Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat and banking committee chairman who is the legislation’s primary sponsor.

Central to that agreement were changes that addressed taxpayer bailouts of banks and investment companies that had gambled on the future of the housing market. Both parties had said they wanted to prevent such bailouts, which generated widespread anger among the public even as they stabilized the financial system.

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