Anti-Gaming Legislation Passes House Committee in Port Security Bill

The House has passed the Port Security Bill that includes, as we have learned, the Rep. Leach language (not the Goodlatte, which is slightly more prohibitive) to ban online gaming. The bill is not an expansion of the Wire Act, but MAY contain provisions that could be applied against online poker players--and get rid of your ability to use firepay and neteller. 

So how does Port Security relate to Internet gambling?

It doesn't. In fact, while the bill helps bolster Port Security, it ignores increasing funding security for rail or transit. So essentially Internet gambling is a larger threat to national security than potential acts of terror against rail and transit.

R-Loretta Sanchez, a Democrat from California, said:

"If you had time to stick Internet gambling in our Port Bill...then you had time to make our country safer...but the bill doesn't fund rail or transit, just Port. Who's responsible for not having done the right thing?"

Not Bill Frist or the Republican leadership in Congress, that's for sure.

The bill is generally supported by Democrats, so Republicans are using it as an opportunity to advance less popular agenda items. According to Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Democrat leader Harry Reid, “[Republicans are] using it as a dumping ground” for bills that couldn't pass on their own.

Comments

[bobby]

check this out--

http://www.dailykos.net/archives/000715.html

[Stratman]

This was a chicken shit way to get this legislation passed. If we don't send all these lame ass legislators packing in November we are going to end up with no freedoms.

[Matt]

Oh well. We'll see what this actually means. I was playing online while they were debating it on the floor on CSPAN. I mentioned it in the chat window and encouraged my fellow players to tune in. Mo one seemed to care. Their take was that this won't be too different than the gov's efforts to shut down things like Napster. I guess we'll see.