Kaufman: Final Wall Street reform bill can't differ too much from Senate version

The final Wall Street reform bill can't drift too far from the version passed Thursday night by the Senate, Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.) warned Friday.

While there is no certainty in how conferees from the House and Senate might address differences between their two bills, Kaufman said, substantial changes could endanger the 60-vote majority needed to pass the bill in the upper chamber.

"There isn't a lot of wiggle room in the conference, in terms of changing what's in the Senate bill," Kaufman said Friday morning on CNBC.

The Wall Street reform bill got those 60 votes in a procedural vote on Thursday afternoon, with three Republicans joining Democrats, after two Democrats defected. The overall bill passed 59-39 later that evening.

The Senate will meet again on Monday for a vote on a motion to instruct conferees.

Kaufman said that he had a difficult time supporting the bill in its current form, expressing worry that the legislation didn't do enough to address capitalization and spinning off proprietary trading.

"I am disappointed," he said. "It was a hard vote for me."

Kaufman said that an important sticking point in that conference, which many senators would like to see preserved, is language by Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) to force firms to spin off their derivatives trading units.

The House bill lacks such language, which the White House, Federal Reserve and some senior Democrats have sought to strip. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) had planned an amendment to address Lincoln's language but dropped plans to offer it, reportedly because of an expectation that it would be addressed in conference.

"I hope very much that they remain strong on that," he said of the derivatives language, also rejecting criticism that it would drive such trading operations overseas.

"I think that what we have to do is worry about American taxpayers right now," he said. "I do not think that business will go overseas; I think this is highly overstated right now."

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said Thursday that he expects the conference to take place throughout June, with the process to conclude in time for President Barack Obama to sign a bill by the Fourth of July.