A sweeping proposal to revamp Wall Street suffered a legislative setback this evening when the Senate failed to bring the measure to the floor for debate.

Voting 57-41, Senate Democrats could not muster the 60 votes needed to overturn the threat of a GOP filibuster and begin formal debate on the bill, which has become President Obama's top priority following his success on health care.

Democrats quickly blasted Republicans for voting together against the bill.

"Some of these senators may believe that this obstruction is a good political strategy, and others may see delay as an opportunity to take this debate behind closed doors, where financial industry lobbyists can water down reform or kill it altogether," Obama said in a statement. "But the American people can't afford that."

Sen. Ben Nelson, a centrist Democrat from Nebraska, voted with 39 Republicans against advancing the measure. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., switched his vote to "no" on the measure -- a procedural move that allows him to call for a new vote later this week.

The roll call is available here.

Politically, the failed vote allowed Democrats to cast Republicans as obstructionists on a policy that Americans generally support. A Washington Post-ABC News poll found that about two-thirds of Americans back new regulations on banks.

"Wall Street reform is political dynamite and Republicans just lit the match," Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said in a statement. "We now have Republicans on the record voting to give big banks $700 billion of taxpayer funds – but opposing holding them accountable for it."

Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have likened the financial regulation bill to the health care law approved by Congress last month and have argued it will provide bailouts for Wall Street.

Republicans note that a bipartisan group of lawmakers is close to reaching a deal on another bill that may win broad support.

"Today, Senate Democrats stood with Wall Street by attempting to move forward with a bill that creates a permanent bailout for irresponsible financial firms, institutionalizes 'too-big-to-fail' and does nothing to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, organizations that were at the heart of the financial crisis," Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said in a statement. "Harry Reid decided that it's better to have no bill at all, creating a partisan sideshow instead of holding Wall Street accountable."

(Posted by John Fritze)