The first bill the Senate passed this year was the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 (S.1). The House passed their version of the bill later in the year. But Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) used procedural tricks to prevent the Senate from participating in a conference with the House to reconcile the differences in the two versions of the bill. No bill can become law until the House and Senate vote on and pass identical versions. DeMint was single-handedly preventing this from happening.
DeMint’s concern was that tough earmark disclosure rules that were in the Senate bill would be stripped out during the conference reconciliation. The only way to get around DeMint’s obstruction was to hash out the differences between the two bills informally (out of conference) and then have the House and Senate vote again on identical versions. If both bills are identical, there is no need for a reconciliation conference. The House passed their bill this morning by a 411-8 veto-proof margin. The Senate will now move to pass the bill before the August recess.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has vowed to keep his chamber in session over the weekend and into August recess to pass the bill if necessary.
The bill doesn’t do everything I hoped it would. But that’s politics.
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) lent the new bill his endorsement, which Democratic leaders hope will tamp down any lingering concerns among members who fought for the strongest possible reforms. Feingold issued two separate statements yesterday, the first unequivocally hailing the legislation’s lobbying provisions.
Of the earmark anxiety, Feingold said: “Congress must not let people who oppose reform change the subject. Right now, the simple question senators must ask themselves is whether we want to change the way Washington does business or not.”
The original Senate vote was 96-2 so a filibuster shouldn’t be a problem…and certainly not a veto.
Last week Congress passed the 9/11 Commission recommendations bill with super-majorities. And they (somewhat disturbingly) passed the minimum wage hike within the Iraq Supplemental funding bill.
Slowly, but surely, the Dems are passing their legislative agenda.
Who better than Ted Stevens to threaten to block ethics and lobbying reform?
Republicans blocking Freedom of Information Act bill
as they continue to stifle the d‘s agenda at every opportunity…foia gets slapped down:
obstructionism it is; what’s so frustrating to me is that for the past 6 1/2 years, the d‘s have chosen to not use this ability while they were in the minority. now that they have a majority, tenuous as it may be, they’re thwarted at every step…there’s a lesson here, and it may come a bit late, but l hope, although l’m not optimistic, that they’re getting it.
if they were, we’d already have hearings for this: ITMF’sA, underway.
lTMF’sA
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(The Hill) – A weekend breakthrough on a House energy bill appears to have alleviated concerns among enough oil patch Democrats to ensure passage …
Democrats also were looking to expand children’s health insurance, reverse a Supreme Court decision that imposes a statute of limitations on wage discrimination cases, and add $16 billion over the next decade to federal coffers, principally through new taxes on oil and gas companies.
… An energy bill authored by Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.), the House Natural Resources Committee chairman, also has divided House Democrats, but a last-minute compromise seems to have assuaged concerns sufficiently to move the measure.
The energy industry, supported by members from energy producing states, had fought provisions that would impose stiff penalties and fines on oil and gas drillers for underpayment of lease royalties …
A confederation of environmental groups, enjoying newfound influence on Capitol Hill, held a “lobby day” last week in support of both higher fuel-efficiency standards and a renewable portfolio standard that would increase the amount of electricity that comes from sources such as wind and solar power.
The assistant director of government relations for the Audubon Society, Justin Tatham, said: “For years and years and years, energy policy has focused on big tax breaks for the oil and gas industry or the coal industry, but as fears grow over global warming this Congress is taking a different approach.”
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."