The schism among Senate Democrats over a package bill revising large portions of the postcrisis Dodd-Frank financial regulatory law appears to be getting wider as four additional Democrats voted to advance the bill to debate on March 6.
Twelve Democrats and one Independent signed on as cosponsors to the bill, which proposes higher regulatory thresholds for midsize banks and compliance off-ramps for community banks. Four additional Democrats who did not cosponsor the bill helped the Senate move it into debate in a 67 to 32 vote: Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Bill Nelson of Florida and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan. Their votes do not guarantee that they will ultimately vote in favor of the bill but signals their interest in doing so.
The Senate Banking Committee's top Democrat, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, said in an interview that Democrats, who are split on the bill, have not received guidance from Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer of New York on how to handle the legislation.
"We're all on our own," Brown said.
The bipartisan group of senators who engineered the bill, meanwhile, are still at work tweaking it to increase the chance it passes in the House of Representatives without losing the support of several moderate Senate Democrats currently in favor of the bill. Sen. Mike Crapo, an Idaho Republican who drove the legislative process for the bill, told reporters that a manager's amendment, which is a bundle of changes aimed at whipping together more support, is still being crafted and may not be ready for another day. Still, Crapo said he hopes the bill will pass this week.
"Nothing's a deal until everything's agreed to," Crapo said of the manager's amendment. He offered no details on what provisions or changes might be in the amendment package.
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling of Texas is leading the charge to add or change provisions to the liking of House Republicans, who have advocated for more aggressive pullbacks in Dodd-Frank regulations in the past.

Also in question is the allotment of amendments open to individual senators, who can suggest changes to the bill. Supporters and opponents of the bill both expressed interest in introducing amendments, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., ultimately has the say in determining how many are permitted.
Sens. John Kennedy, R-La., and Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, hope to introduce an amendment that would require the credit bureaus to provide more transparency to consumers about which third parties are accessing their credit information.
Democrats strongly opposing the legislation also hope to introduce amendments to dilute a bill they fear will break down regulatory safeguards on the banking industry. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., held a press conference promising to launch more than a dozen amendments which will propose increased scrutiny of credit bureaus and more stringent rules on banks that took large sums of bailout money during the financial crisis. Isaac Boltansky of Compass Point noted that these amendments are generally designed for messaging purposes, and have little legislative probability of being adopted in the final bill.
Brown said the number of amendments up for debate is still being negotiated, but vowed to introduce "as many as they allow us."
