Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today said he is disappointed that the Senate will not begin debate this week on a bill to reform Wall Street.

The Senate did not get enough votes to end a filibuster of the measure, which is intended to put an end to the bad behavior on Wall Street that is largely responsible for the economic downturn.  The vote, which was largely along party lines, was 57-41; 60 votes are needed to end a filibuster.

"It is very disappointing that we can't muster enough votes to even debate a Wall Street reform bill.  Americans are suffering deeply because of the bad decisions Wall Street made.  I believe we must act now to put an end to the kind of behavior that devastated our economy, and put millions of Americans out of work," Bingaman said.

Bingaman said he hopes some senators will reconsider their votes in the coming weeks and end the filibuster.