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CongressDaily update:
HOMELAND SECURITY
GOP Weighs Court, Gambling, Liability Adds To Port Bill ...
House and Senate Republicans were working behind the scenes today to attach last-minute provisions to a major maritime security bill, including the court security and online gambling legislation that Republican leaders sought unsuccessfully this week to add to the FY07 defense authorization bill. These lawmakers also indicated it was not likely they would convene another formal conference meeting, preventing Democrats from adding amendments to the final conference agreement on the bill. This prompted outrage among minority lawmakers and staff today.
At least three provisions emerged as late candidates for additions to the bill: beefing up security at the nation's courts, including language allowing judges to carry concealed guns; providing liability protections to phone companies that assist with the government's wiretapping program; and cracking down on the $12 billion online gambling industry, lawmakers and aides said. The court security provision had been tied to a House border security provision targeting immigrant gangs and criminal illegal aliens, but the two have been separated, a knowledgeable aide said. The immigration provision will be held until the lame-duck session after the Nov. 7 elections, the aide added.
House Homeland Security Chairman King declined to comment on the latest negotiations, saying only, "All this is in flux." The port security bill is an attractive target because it is viewed as one of the last legislative vehicles to be passed by Congress before lawmakers head home to campaign. "If I were to bet, we'll finish it up today," said House Homeland Security Economic Security Subcommittee Chairman Daniel Lungren, R-Calif., who co-authored the underlying port bill. "I think we're going to be here late."
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At presstime, House leaders still had not circulated final bill language, even though a vote is expected tonight. Democrats and their aides in both chambers were outraged that they might not get to offer amendments at a conference meeting and that they had yet to see the final bill language. One conference meeting was held late Thursday night, but there was no bill language and no amendments were allowed to be offered. "That was all pomp and circumstance last night," said Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J. "And it was less circumstance and more pomp." A House GOP aide countered, "We had every intention of reconvening the conference, it's coming down to the wire." When asked if another conference meeting would be held and amendments allowed, Lungren said, "I don't think that's going to happen."
Democrats were mounting a protest by presstime. "Some of the Democrats that were on the conference committee are in the process of putting together a formal response to Chairman King. It is probably going to go in the form of a letter," one aide said. It was not clear if Democrats might withhold their signatures to the conference report. "It remains to be seen if people are willing to sign off when the process has been so messed up," an aide said. Still, Pascrell acknowledged that most Democrats will probably still vote for the bill, given the importance of improving the security of U.S. ports and commercial shipping.
HOMELAND SECURITY
... As Frist Seeks Commitments For Online Gambling Rider
Senate Majority Leader Frist is now pushing to add a rider to the port security bill that would crack down on the $12 billion online gambling industry. "It's possible. It's possible, but no commitments," Frist said this morning. One House GOP aide, however, was more optimistic about it being included in the port security conference report. Frist had been thwarted in trying to get the provision in the defense authorization conference report, especially as his maneuver triggered House Speaker Hastert to push for court security and border provisions that he wanted included at the last minute. In the end, Senate and House Armed Services negotiators balked at the requests and pushed through a clean conference report. "It's floating around and it's looking for a home," Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss, said of the anti-online gambling provision.
For Frist, passage of the measure would be a political coup because it is a major legislative priority of groups such as the Family Research Council and other conservative Christians who play a critical role in the GOP presidential nominating process. The House in July passed, 317-93, a comprehensive measure to ban most forms of online gambling, but that measure was stymied in the Senate. Frist has been pushing a truncated version of the House bill that essentially would bar banks and credit card companies from processing payments for online bets and make it a crime for a gambling business to accept credit cards, wire transfers or any other bank instrument to process payments for illegal gaming transactions.
One House aide noted the rider has support among House GOP leaders such as Hastert and Majority Leader Boehner and that a recent lobbying blitz by Indian tribes against the measures has had no effect. "As far as I know, there is no opposition from this quarter," the House aide said.