With the sad passing of Sen. Robert Byrd, the longest serving member of Congress in U.S. history, the Democrats for now number 58 in the Senate (the Democratic governor of West Virginia will appoint someone in the near future, with a special election taking place in 2012, the same time as the next election was going to be held anyway). As it is tradition that the President pro temp of the Senate goes to the most senior member of the majority party, Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii was sworn in.

Since the Democrats lost a member, they had to reconvene conference negotiations on the Wall Street reform bill, removing a bank tax (meaning costs of the bill will now fall back on the taxpayers) to appease Sen. Scott Brown who is still uncommital on his vote, which will now not take place until next week.  The House of Representatives passed the final version, with Speaker Pelosi personally gavelling the vote to a close, as it represents the biggest financial reforms since the Great Depression.

And extension of jobless benefits passed in the House but died once again in the Senate (thanks to Republicans and Sen. Ben Nelson), meaning that the unemployed will continue to suffer through the 4th of July congressional recess. The House also passed a bill that broadens BP’s legal liability for the 11 workers who died in the oil rig explosion.

Gen. David Petraeus was quickly confirmed 99-0 to command the war effort in Afghanistan, replacing Gen. Stanley McChrystal whom was removed by Pres. Obama after controversial remarks to Rolling Stone but will be retiring with four stars. Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan’s confirmation hearings this week were decidedly uncontroversial and she is expected to be confirmed.