Buoyed by a nonbinding U.S. Senate vote to eliminate billions in subsidies for "too big to fail" banks, Massachusetts Democratic Sen.

Elizabeth Warren

called the measure a step toward "leveling the playing field" between megabanks and their smaller competitors and customers.

The Senate, in a unanimous 99-0 vote Friday, passed the measure to eliminate the subsidies that big banks receive through lower borrowing costs because of the "implicit guarantee they will be bailed out by the government in a time of crisis," Warren said Sunday.

The Senate pulled an all-nighter Friday, passing its first budget in four years and voting on more than 50 amendments – including paycheck fairness for women and assistance for the beleaguered New England fishing industry. "It was an action-packed night," Warren said.

Even though the banking measure, sponsored by Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown and Louisiana Republican Sen. David Vitter, was not binding, it's an "important step forward," Warren said. "I'm glad that Republicans and Democrats can agree: 'Too big to fail' needs to end, and these big-bank subsidies make no sense."

More work needs to be done to level the playing field between big banks and their smaller competitors and consumers, "but we're making progress," she said.

Warren's concerns have been echoed by many others, including Attorney General Eric Holder, who earlier this month testified before the Senate that some Wall Street banks have gotten so big they're above the law.

"I am concerned that the size of some of these institutions becomes so large that it does become difficult for us to prosecute them when we are hit with indications that if you do prosecute, if you do bring a criminal charge, it will have a negative impact on the national economy, perhaps even the world economy," Holder said during testimony.

The top ten biggest banks receive about $83 billion in subsidies annually in the form of lower borrowing costs, according to recent Bloomberg estimates. The same assistance is not extended to community banks and credit unions, Warren said.

"We know we can take on the big banks and their army of lobbyists and win, because we've done it before," she said. "When banks are too big to fail, too big to jail, too big for trial, too big to manage, too big to regulate, too big to shrink, and too big to reform ... they are just too big."

Vitter said ending financial advantages for megabanks, those with assets totaling more than $500 billion, is the fair and right thing to do. "This amendment is very simple. It says we should do away with the federal policies that create that subsidy, that uneven playing field," Vitter said. "It doesn't say it would forcibly break up the banks, it doesn't say we would tax them. It just says that."

Meanwhile, the bipartisan amendment aiding Northeast fishermen, including here in Massachusetts, allows funds in next year's federal budget to help the struggling industry. The amendment was introduced by Warren and Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

The amendment came after a federal disaster was declared last year in several fisheries, including in the Northeast, where fisherman face massive cuts in 2013 groundfish catch allocations. The Senate last year approved $150 million for fisheries assistance, but that measure died. Warren says disaster aid is critically needed by fishermen.

Material from the Associated Press and CNN was used in this report.