It appears that Senate Majority Leader Frist's attempts to attach anti-internet gaming language to H.R 5631(the 'Defense Bill') have fizzled. Instead, the heat is on Sen. Hastert's attempts to attach court security and gang violence legislation to the bill. The Dems won't vote for the bill if extraneous legislation is attached. What seems to have sent Frist back into his burrow was Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, John Warner who slapped Hastert's wrist, warning in a letter to Frist that the bill won't pass without bipartisan support. Hastert will most likely pull the attachments, but it looks like it will still go down to the wire as to whether the defense bill goes to vote before the recess.
Don't ya' just love politics? The Reds attempt to slap language into a hot button, must pass bill knowing the Blues are going to have a fit and threaten to pull their vote so then the Reds can say at election time "We gave the defense bill our full support it's the Dems who threatened to cripple our nation's military and our efforts to fight terrorism and keep our country safe."
And while all that is going on, little Senator Frist tries to sneak the anti-internet gaming measure into the bill to help further his bid for the presidency in 2008.
I found this op-ed piece published yesterday regarding internet gaming. And 2+2 has continuous updates and discussions going on in their forum.
