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Republican lawmakers are showing their true hypocrisy this week as they push for the elimination of earmarks in Congress. Without the earmarks, the Conservatives may have a tough time getting bills through in the future without proper debate.
Back in 2006, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was created by a Republican-majority Congress. The online gambling ban, however, would never had come to fruition had the Conservatives had to propose it as a stand alone bill.
Instead of allowing time to debate the merits of the online gambling ban, Conservatives attached the bill to a must-pass port security bill. This gave some liberal lawmakers no choice but to vote in favor of the port security bill, while in the process creating the UIGEA.
By many accounts, the UIGEA has been a colossal failure. The law criminalizes only the processing of online gambling transactions by financial institutions. The banks paraded officials into Congress detailing how hard of a task blocking the transactions would be. The financial institutions also told of how it would take millions of dollars to set up a system to block the transactions.
Legislators understood where the banking officials were coming from, but the problem was that their voice was not heard until after the UIGEA was in place. No research had been done leading up to passing the UIGEA, and no consultations took place. It was simply far right Republicans, finding a way to get online gambling banned by attaching it to an important piece of legislation.
Today, some of those same Republicans that were a part of playing the dirty politics in regards to the UIGEA, were calling for a vote to end earmarks. Just the idea that these Conservatives would call for the elimination of earmarks is somewhat amusing to those within the gaming industry.
Read entire article here.
Back in 2006, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was created by a Republican-majority Congress. The online gambling ban, however, would never had come to fruition had the Conservatives had to propose it as a stand alone bill.
Instead of allowing time to debate the merits of the online gambling ban, Conservatives attached the bill to a must-pass port security bill. This gave some liberal lawmakers no choice but to vote in favor of the port security bill, while in the process creating the UIGEA.
By many accounts, the UIGEA has been a colossal failure. The law criminalizes only the processing of online gambling transactions by financial institutions. The banks paraded officials into Congress detailing how hard of a task blocking the transactions would be. The financial institutions also told of how it would take millions of dollars to set up a system to block the transactions.
Legislators understood where the banking officials were coming from, but the problem was that their voice was not heard until after the UIGEA was in place. No research had been done leading up to passing the UIGEA, and no consultations took place. It was simply far right Republicans, finding a way to get online gambling banned by attaching it to an important piece of legislation.
Today, some of those same Republicans that were a part of playing the dirty politics in regards to the UIGEA, were calling for a vote to end earmarks. Just the idea that these Conservatives would call for the elimination of earmarks is somewhat amusing to those within the gaming industry.
Read entire article here.