US Lawmakers Scrap Bank Tax from Finance Bill

US lawmakers have scrapped a 19-billion-dollar bank fee from a major Wall Street overhaul bill following Republican objections to the measure.

Lawmakers in a conference meeting voted after negotiations to drop the proposal, after it appeared that on the Senate side the Democratic majority was not likely to muster the 60 of 100 votes it would take to pass the bill unchanged without risk of amendment.

The overhaul, which faces votes in the Senate and the House of Representatives, takes aim at the practices and regulatory loopholes accused of undermining the global financial system.

It creates a new consumer financial protection agency, an early-warning system to predict and prevent the next crisis and ends government bailouts of "too-big-to-fail" companies, say backers of the measure.

Friday, US lawmakers agreed on the sweeping financial reform bill, ending marathon negotiations aimed a creating legislation that would prevent another economic crisis.

But the death this week of a prominent Democrat, Senator Robert Byrd, cast doubt on plans for the swift passage of the bill, depriving Democrats of a vital vote in the bitterly divided Senate.

Leaders hope to secure final passage of the bill before the Independence Day holiday break at the end of this week, as President Barack Obama has requested.

The hard-fought reform bill was struck more than two years after a financial crisis pushed the global economy into the worst recession since World War II.