NU Online News Service, May 20, 4:00 p.m.EDT

The Senate voted today to limit further debate on financialservices reform legislation, setting up likely final passage of thebill by Friday.

Earlier today, NU Online News Service reported that debates overinsurance issues helped stall Senate Democrats' efforts to win acloture vote Wednesday, but the senate reached its magic number of60 votes as it took the issue up again today.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he will try to complete work onthe bill, S. 3217, the Restoring American Financial Stability Actof 2010, by Thursday night.

Republicans Sen. Scott Brown, Mass.; and Sens. Susan Collins andOlympia Snowe, both of Maine, joined 55 Democrats and twoindependents in the vote. Two Democrats and 38 republicansopposed.

"Now that the Senate has limited debate it moves the processalong, eliminates amendments that might not be germane to thedebate, and makes a final vote on the bill a certainty," said BlainRethmeier, a spokesman for the American Insurance Association.

Joel Wood, senior vice president of government relations for theCouncil of Insurance Agents and Brokers, said, "Final passage ofthe legislation is now in sight, though certainly there are somebig and knotty issues that will have to be resolved with the Housebill."

He mentioned CIAB's support for the non-admitted provisions ofthe legislation, which modernize and make uniform regulation andassessments of the surplus lines market.

The bill does so by establishing the rules of a domiciliarystate to govern regulation and tax assessment of these non-admittedproducts.

Mr. Wood said, "For our members and their clients, the surpluslines reform has been long sought and eagerly anticipated. Muchwill be made about the partisan divide on big issues in thislegislation, but the insurance title is wholly bipartisan andthoughtfully crafted."

Matt Brady, a spokesman for the National Association of MutualInsurance Companies, said, "As it stands the bill generallyrecognizes that property and casualty insurance did not play a rolein creating the financial crisis and respects the state-basedregulatory system."

The bill would create a Financial Stability Oversight Councilcomposed mostly of federal regulators that would oversee financialinstitutions whose failure would constitute a systemic risk to thefinancial system.

An Office of National Insurance (ONI) also created by the billwould monitor insurance companies and recommend to the StabilityCouncil stronger oversight of a potentially risky insurer.

The ONI would also serve as a federal clearinghouse forfinancial data relating to insurance solvency and other issues,although most of the data would be generated by existing stateagencies.

The ONI provision would also give the Treasury Department theauthority to negotiate bilateral insurance trade agreements withforeign governments.

The bill also contains provisions that would subject insurancecompanies to greater regulation of their derivatives activities andlimit, to some extent, investment activities conducted by insurersthat own banks or thrifts.

According to industry officials, it is unlikely an amendmentsponsored by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., that could have barredbanks and insurance companies from each other's businesses will beruled in order.

Industry officials said it remains unclear whether they would beable, under cloture rules, to win a vote on an amendment exemptingnonbank financial services companies, subject to liquidation orrehabilitation under state laws, from assessments by federalregulators to pay for resolving systemically risky financialinstitutions.