The Late Night Strike-5/19/09-Better Late Than Never

Good evening. I had an extremely busy day in Strike-land, meaning I did not have time to write up an entry. Thanks to the Big Picture for filling in. I wanted to mention a couple of quick things.

1. The Senate today passed the amended Credit Card Bill of Rights by a vote of 90-5. The dissenters were Republicans Alexander (TN), Bennett (UT), Kyl (AZ) and Thune (SD) as well as Democrat Johnson (SD). (Again, no coincidence that South Dakota is home to a lot of Credit Card companies). The bill now goes back to the House, which will vote on the Senate version tomorrow, and presumably send it on to the President. This will mark a big victory for President Obama. It will be the first substantive bill he's signed dealing with financial regulation, for one. Also, it has some real teeth. The bill will prevent credit card companies from increasing interest rates if consumers are less than 60 days late in making a payment.

2. The House passed, by a vote of 367-54 (with Rep. Kaptur, D, of Ohio voting present), the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, which will now go back to the Senate for one final seal of approval before being sent to the President.

See you tomorrow!