Brown outlines concerns with Wall Street bill

Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) said he voted Wednesday against ending debate on the Wall Street overhaul bill because of the way the legislation would affect some financial firms in his state.

Brown said he told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) earlier in the week about his concerns. Brown said he believed his concerns would be resolved before the cloture vote took place.

"I had the assurances these things would be addressed," Brown said late on Wednesday. The cloture motion failed on a 57-42 vote.

Brown said he has been concerned about how a possible ban on proprietary trading would impact home-state companies, including Fidelity and MassMutual. The ban is aimed at big banks, but could also sweep in trust companies that are regulated as bank holding companies. Brown described his concerns has a technical matter. 

The underlying bill did not account for Brown's concerns. 

Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), the main sponsors of a new ban on proprietary trading, had agreed to resolve the issue. But the amendment had not come up for debate by Wednesday's cloture vote. 

Brown and other senators have also been concerned that legislation would hurt asset-management firms that have relationships with hedge funds and other investment pools.

This post was corrected and updated at 8:37 p.m.