It took three test votes for Senate Democrats to realize that the Republican demand to end taxpayer bailouts in the banking reform bill were mandatory if the bill was to reach the floor for debate. The bill by Senator Chris Dodd (D-Ct) contained loopholes that would continue to force taxpayers to foot the bill for irresponsible actions by banks that lead to failure.
The three test votes, in essence a vote for a Republican filibuster, managed to buy time for Senator Shelby (R-Al) to negotiate an end to the bailouts and the notion that some banks are too big to fail.
