After weeks of debate, the Senate last night voted 59-39 to approve a sweeping set of financial regulations, maybe the biggest effort at change since Congress acted in the wake of the Great Depression to restrain the activities of big financial institutions.

Backers said it was needed to prevent another 2008 Wall Street Collapse.

Critics said it was full of loopholes and would likely lead to massive anti-business regulations.

Four Republicans broke ranks to vote for the bill, Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and her colleague Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME).

Brown was the important vote earlier in the day, as he provided the 60th vote to Democrats, allowing them to invoke cloture on the bill and force final action about six hours later.

Brown changed his vote after winning assurances from Democrats that they would alter a series of provisions in the bill in order to win more favorable treatment for big financial firms in his home state.

The bill now goes to House-Senate negotiatiors, who will try to produce a final bill by the end of June or in July.

The action was good news for the White House, which has championed the need to act on Financial Reform, and would give Democrats yet another major reform victory if they can get a final bill to the President's desk.

"I want to thank every American who kept the pressure on Washington to change a system that worked better for banks on Wall Street than it did for families on Main Street," the President said from the White House Rose Garden on Thursday afternoon.

"Our goal is not to punish the banks, but to protect the larger economy and the American people from the kind of upheavals that we've seen in the past few years," Mr. Obama added.

As for what this bill does, check my other blog, "Wall Street Details" for a much better explanation of the House and Senate Wall Street Reform bills.