Senate wants to exempt auto dealers from overhaul

WASHINGTON — As the two houses of Congress prepare to merge their financial- overhaul bills, the Senate on Monday voted 60-30 to recommend that thousands of the nation's auto dealers be exempted from oversight by a new regulator for consumer financial protection.

Auto dealers have lobbied fervently to escape the reach of the consumer watchdog, arguing that existing regulators already have power to crack down on abusive practices and that the Senate bill would still cover firms that issue auto loans. The dealers won an exemption in the House bill passed in December, but they were not spared in the Senate version.

Monday's nonbinding directive resulted from a deal that paved the way for last week's final vote in the Senate on the financial-overhaul bill.

Republicans agreed not to push for a vote on a controversial amendment offered by Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., that would have exempted auto dealers, and by doing so they prevented a vote on a contentious measure that would have prohibited banks from trading on their own accounts, a practice known as proprietary trading. In turn, Democrats agreed to hold Monday's procedural vote on Brownback's measure, which passed easily despite fierce White House opposition.

The vote came as Senate leaders prepared to appoint seven Democrats and five Republicans to meet in coming weeks with counterparts from the House to hammer out differences between new financial rules approved by each chamber.

The effort will be chaired by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, who has said he hopes to deliver a final bill to President Obama by July 4.

The House and Senate bills share broad similarities and largely reflect the administration's original blueprint unveiled last year.

Still, numerous issues remain unresolved, most notably a provision backed by Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., that could force the nation's biggest banks to spin off their profitable derivatives trading desks. An array of lawmakers, administration officials and regulators hope to see the language softened or dropped, but Lincoln has vowed to fight any effort to weaken the provision.