Corker

I've had the opportunity to work with Senator Corker (R-TN) on issues related to financial reform, and he is as pragmatic of a Republican/Conservative as there is out there. He's been saying for months that a bill will pass and it should be bipartisan. If the GOP votes against this bill, like they did with health care, they're even dumber than I think.

Prior to Monday's meeting, Corker told the Huffington Post that, "You're probably going to witness one of the most dysfunctional committee meetings in Senate history."

On Wednesday, his tone remained the same.

"We had an opportunity to pass out a bill out of our committee in a bipartisan way, and then stand on the Senate floor and hold hands and say that we would keep amendments that were unnecessary and improper from coming onto this bill," Corker said. "Instead of that, it's been decided that we are going to try to negotiate now ...

"I think it's going to be far more difficult now that this has passed out of committee ... I think we have made a very, very large mistake, and I regret that."
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Banking committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) told HuffPost that "what [Corker] said was his Republican leadership abandoned him."

"They decided they wanted to say 'No' again," Dodd said. "So we went ahead ... If you don't even want to offer yours, I couldn't -- if anyone wanted to offer amendments, I would have been there. They made a decision not to. That was their call. Not mine. And listen, I understand why they wanted to do it."

Part of Corker's regret going forward stems from the difficulty Republicans may have in staying unified.

"It's going to be very, very difficult -- very difficult -- to get 41 members to hold, especially, especially if many of the provisions in this bill address concerns that everyday people on Main Street have," said Corker. "That's why I thought it was so important to leave that committee -- maybe lose three Republicans, lose three Democrats -- but to end up with a middle-of-the-road bill that we can all hold hands and fight off amendments."

Corker wasn't with the Dems on health care, but to his credit, he told me that Republicans should be talking about how they should be fixing health care, and present a plan to the American people, and not just say "no". He's a guy worth listening to.