GOP said lacking reform filibuster votes

WASHINGTON, April 15 (UPI) -- U.S. Senate Republican leaders do not have enough rank-and-file support to block Democratic financial reform efforts, a GOP lawmaker said.

The Hill reported Thursday Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has been unable to get 41 senators to sign a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada pledging to oppose Democratic reform efforts. If 41 senators were to sign, it would indicate leaders have enough votes to block the legislation with a filibuster.

Citing a Republican source, The Hill said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, declined to sign the letter. There was no indication whether any other Republican senators also declined to sign the letter, the report said.

A senior Democratic official told The Hill Reid plans to move Wall Street reform to the Senate floor next week.

McConnell has asserted the reform proposal would lead to endless Wall Street bailouts.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the bill "explicitly mandates that a large financial firm that faces failure will be allowed to fail, and it explicitly prohibits the use of any funds to 'bail out' a failing firm."

Psaki wrote in a WhiteHouse.gov blog that GOP opposition was based on advice from party strategists advising Republicans to attack President Barack Obama's financial reform plans by calling them "bailouts."