Sen. Jeff Merkley (D., Ore.) has taken advantage of the delay in cloture to force a vote on the proprietary trading amendment he co-sponsored with Sen. Carl Levin before the final Senate bill proceeds to final vote. The proposed limits on proprietary trading are known as the “Volcker Rule” because of concerns raised by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, and are among the more hotly contested items left to be decided by the Senate as it considers broad changes to U.S. financial-market regulation.

Senate Republicans blocked the Merkley-Levin amendment from being voted on last night; thus, as of this morning, it seemed unlikely that the amendment would be voted on before Reid was scheduled to invoke cloture at 2PM.  However, given that the cloture vote was delayed, the Senate Democrats were able to orchestrate a procedural end-run around Republican’s Tuesday night obstructionist tactics.

Sen. Merkley attached the controversial measure as a second-degree amendment to an already-pending financial-overhaul amendment by Sen. Sam Brownback (R., Kan.) to exempt auto dealers from a new consumer watchdog.

The move is an example of the ongoing partisan gamesmanship over the financial bill. It ensures that the Senate will vote on an amendment that would ban most banks from using their own capital to make market bets, so-called proprietary trading.  If lawmakers approve Mr. Merkley’s amendment, however, the measure would only make it into the final bill if Mr. Brownback’s amendment to which it is attached also succeeds.