US President Barack Obama says a massive Wall Street effort to beat his sweeping financial reform bill had "failed" after a key Senate vote to break Republican blocking tactics.
Obama said the financial industry had repeatedly tried to block the regulatory reforms, the most significant since the 1930s Great Depression, with hordes of lobbyists, millions of dollars in advertizing and special interest "loopholes."
"Today, I think it is fair to say these efforts have failed," Obama said, in a statement in the Rose Garden of the White House.
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Earlier, the Senate voted 60-40 to end debate on the measure -- the narrowest possible margin for doing so -- and Obama's Democratic allies hoped to act on final passage of the historic bill late Thursday or on Friday.
