Talks between top lawmakers on the Senate Banking Committee and a group of Democrats seen as key swing votes to advance a bipartisan overhaul of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac broke down yesterday, raising the prospect that the bill won't advance beyond the committee this year, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Lawmakers last week postponed a committee vote on the overhaul bill, unveiled in March by Sens. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), the heads of the committee, to wrest more support from the 22-member panel. Lawmakers said last week they could have passed the bill with a narrow majority, but many analysts believe a larger "supermajority" would be needed to compel Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to bring the bill up for a floor vote ahead of the November midterm elections. Efforts over the past week had focused on winning three of six uncommitted Democrats on the panel: Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Charles Schumer (N.Y.) and Robert Menendez (N.J.). Consumer and civil-rights groups had raised a series of objections to the proposed bill.
