Passage of a sweeping financial regulatory bill now seems likely.

By Micah Hanks

Voting 60-38 to end further debate, a Democratic majority has all but insured the passage of a new financial reform provision designed to overhaul the financial regulatory system. H.R. 4173, dubbed the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, aims to provide new consumer protections in banking and transactions, reform methods used for closing large financial firms in trouble, and provide overall transparency for the financial activities Wall Street engages in.

According to CNN, the bill, introduced to the Senate by Chris Dodd of Connecticut,  “creates a new council of regulators, lead by Treasury,” designed to oversee money banks will maintain in order to offset future financial crises. More specifically, the bill calls for the creation of a new organization–the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau–housed at and funded by the Federal Reserve, who despite bipartisan support for an audit of their activities earlier this year, still manages to carry out much of its regulatory activities in secret. Critics of H.R. 4173 also express concern over whether the bill will essentially institutionalize bailouts or allow the government to seize firms which might pose a threat to the economy.

Joining 55 Democrats, as well as two independents who supported the bill, Republicans Olympia Snowe & Susan Collins of Maine and Scott Brown of Massachusetts cast their votes to end debate on the bill, ending a Republican filibuster. Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin was the only dissenter among Democrats. A final vote may occur as early as 2:00 PM today.

UPDATE: The Senate approved the bill today by a vote of 60 to 39. The 2,300-page bill is heralded as “the largest overhaul of bank and capital market regulation in decades.”

Photo by David Berkowitz via Flickr.