Sen. Scott Brown (R., Mass.) says he won’t vote for the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill in its current form. His objection is centered on a new $19 billion bank tax. Here’s a letter he sent to Dodd and Frank:

Dear Chairman Dodd and Chairman Frank,
I am writing you to express my strong opposition to the $19 billion bank tax that was included in the financial reform bill during the conference committee. This tax was not in the Senate version of the bill, which I supported. If the final version of this bill contains these higher taxes, I will not support it.
It is especially troubling that this provision was inserted in the conference report in the dead of night without hearings or economic analysis. While some will try to argue this isn’t a tax, this new provision takes real money away from the economy, making it unavailable for lending on Main Street, and gives it to Washington. That sounds like a tax to me.
I have always strongly opposed a bank tax because, as the non-partisan CBO has said, costs would be passed onto the millions of American consumers and small businesses who rely on major U.S. financial institutions for their checking, ATM, loans or other services. This tax will be paid by consumers who will have to pay higher fees and the small businesses that won’t get the funding they need to invest and create jobs.
Imposing this new tax is the wrong option. Our economy is still struggling. It is wrong to impose higher taxes and ignore the impact it will have on our economy without considering other ways we might offset the costs of the measure. I am asking that the conference committee find a way to offset the cost of the bill by cutting unnecessary federal spending. There are hundreds of billions in unspent federal funds sitting around, some authorized years ago for long-dead initiatives. Congress needs to start to looking there first, and I stand ready to help.
Sincerely,
Senator Scott P. Brown

Post-conference committee, this is a BFD, since the conference report is unamendable. To satisfy Brown, they’d have to go back to conference. It doesn’t doom the bill by any measure, but is certainly a wrench in the works. The Democrats have already lost two votes with Byrd’s death and Feingold’s opposition. We’ll have to stay tuned for the positions of the usual suspects: The Maine Ladies, Ben Nelson, even Chuck Grassley.

UPDATE: A senior Senate staffer writes me that the conference committee will be reconvened.

It appears the conference will be reopened, possibly as early as this afternoon, to look at an “alternative” funding mechanism.