Bending the Third Rail
Because We Should, We Can, We Do
Friday, January 19, 2007
On The Ethics Bill
Contrary to what I posted earlier, the ethics bill did pass, but only because of this:
The ethics bill almost didn't go to vote yesterday because Republicans threatened to filibuster it if an amendment that would give the president a sort of line-item veto authority wasn't included. But Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia single-handedly blocked these efforts. In the end, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid reached a compromise and said Republicans could add their desired provision to the minimum-wage bill next week if they have the votes.
This seems like a good move to me. First off I'm not sure the Republicans would have the votes to support a filibuster on either bill. But even if they do, trying to get a line-item veto at the expense of an increase of the minumum wage seems like a win for liberals to me.
Written at 1:07 PM by Greyhair.
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