IP Democracy: Senate Panel Working to Push Bill's Passage

It’s not yet the dog days, and Congress hasn’t left for its annual August recess, but Washington seems empty. Traffic has thinned out, the lines at movies are shorter and the usual hustle-bustle is noticeably absent in the stereotypical DC summer heat (which, until a few days ago, was unbearably scorching.)

On the legislative front, then, there’s not much news. But the National Journal’s David Hatch has done a valiant job to drum up something with this piece on the Senate leadership’s push to get telecom industry lobbyists to work hard to help Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) get the votes he needs to pass his telecom reform bill this session. Nothing earth-shattering, but nevertheless an interesting glimpse into the day-in and day-out behind-the-scenes business of getting a bill passed.

Commerce Committee staff met last week with a range of industry lobbyists to “harness their lobbying” muscle in securing 60 full Senate votes, the magic number needed to shut-down a bill-killing filibuster. The prospects for the bill’s passage, however, are still very uncertain.

The current bill has to be “slimmed down” in order to win the day on its own, according to some, but in doing so Stevens could alienate some Senators whose favored provisions get cut. If this doesn’t work, Stevens could try to attach a thinned-out version of the bill to another bigger vehicle.

Meanwhile, Senators Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND) are going to fight to attach their net neutrality amendment to the bill, emboldened by their narrow 11-11 tie vote in committee mark-up. But, as Hatch points out, the votes don’t add up for Snowe and Dorgan either.

With this much uncertainty, look for a lot of last-ditch fireworks in September when Congress reconvenes.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on July 20, 2006 9:18 AM to IP Democracy