Congress to Hear Frank Poker Bills in July
Written by Renee K | Tuesday, May 25th, 2010
While the final touches are being put to the implementation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act that is due to take effect on June 1st, Barney Frank continues in his efforts to bring about alternatives to this controversial law.
The Congressman announced recently that his HR 2267 (Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act) will be marked up in July this year as part of special hearing.
According to Frank, the mark up will take place in the House Financial Services Committee, a committee which he chairs.
At last week’s House Ways and Means hearing, Frank spoke of the way that the majority of his colleagues had been hoodwinked into voting in the UIGEA when it was linked to the unrelated SAFE Port Act by the then Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist in 2006, and he hoped that his efforts to bring about a just alternative would find the support it needed from US politicians.
“It is true that the House did pass by a large margin the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act’,” recalled Frank. “The Senate fooled us. It acted quickly. Because we had a Republican leader who was intent on running for President, he got that bill added onto a bill in the Senate to which it was unrelated. When that became law, it became law to the consternation of many.”
Late last year, the House Financial Services Committee looked into the issue of the legalization of internet gambling and Spencer Bachus asked at the time that the US Treasury and Federal Reserve hold a follow up hearing.
However, due to more pressing issues such as health reform and the recession, the House Financial Committee has held no other hearing on the subject since December.
Poker supporters are looking forward to July’s mark up date. “We want to see a very successful markup,” said John Pappas of the PPA optimistically. “We want to make this as bipartisan as possible and I think we’re on the right path to do that.”
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· Written by Renee K · Filed Under Poker Gossip · Comments Off
