I've been scouring the net today in an effort to find out what's going on with the Frist efforts to attach anti-internet gaming language to the defense bill moving through Congress this week. Below is part of a Reuter's report filed in the last hour or so:
By Reuters
Story last modified Wed Sep 27 08:46:10 PDT 2006
Efforts to win congressional passage of a bill to ban most forms of Internet gambling by tacking it onto a must-pass bill hit a roadblock Tuesday, but aides said Republican backers are exploring other ways to make it law.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, a Virginia Republican, raised a "strong objection" to attaching any unrelated legislation to a pending defense bill, which has been viewed by supporters of the gambling bill as a prime vehicle for it.
"I have firmly opposed putting any (unrelated) bills in the conference report," Warner wrote in a letter dated Monday to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican.
Warner did not cite the Internet gambling bill specifically, but he said other senators have sought to tack at least nine unrelated items to the defense bill.
A Republican aide said that Frist has not given up on passing the Internet gambling bill before lawmakers recess at the end of this week to campaign for the Nov. 7 elections. Frist and other proponents are looking at other possible vehicles, such as a pending measure to bolster port security against potential terrorist attacks, aides said.
"He wants to get it done," one aide said. "We are still working things out. Everyone is still talking."
A senior Democratic aide said, "I wouldn't pronounce it dead yet."
I'm disappointed that there have been little to no updates on the PPA website as to the organization's efforts to quash Frist's efforts. I'm encouraged by the above report, but Frist seems to be a determined little bas person.
