Wall Street bill pending as lawmaker dies

The White House's plans for the swift passage of a sweeping Wall Street reform bill were in doubt Monday after the death of the longest-serving US lawmaker trimmed the Democratic Senate majority.

Senator Robert Byrd, a personification of the venerable chamber in which he served, died at 92, closing a tumultuous American political chapter that spanned the civil rights movement and divisive wars in Vietnam and Iraq.

The West Virginia lawmaker's death deprived Democrats of a vital vote in the bitterly divided Senate, complicating prospects for the most sweeping finance reform bill since the 1930s.

It would force banks to reduce, but not cease, risky trading and investing; set up a new government process for liquidating troubled financial firms; and impose a $19 billion fee on the largest firms to pay for these and other changes.

The House of Representatives was on track to approve the legislation as early as Tuesday evening or today, according to Reuters.

Byrd's death reduced the Democratic Senate majority - at least temporarily - to 58 seats, two short of the number needed to thwart Republican delaying tactics.

West Virginia's Democratic governor can name a replacement for Byrd, who sprinkled stem-winding speeches with poetry and quotes from the Bible, but a nominee is unlikely to be in place this week, AFP said.

Agencies