The Very Definition Of Spin
Today's Washington Post coverage of the ruckus in the Senate over the Gregg amendment is practically the dictionary definition of spin.
Senate Republicans scuttled broad legislation last night to curtail lobbyists' influence and tighten congressional ethics rules, refusing to let the bill pass without a vote on an unrelated measure that would give President Bush virtual line-item-veto power.
The bill could be brought back up later this year. Indeed, Democrats will try one last time today to break the impasse. But its unexpected collapse last night infuriated Democrats and the government watchdog groups that had been pushing it since the lobbying scandals that rocked the last Congress. Proponents charged that Republicans had used the spending-control measure as a ruse to thwart ethics rules they dared not defeat in a straight vote.
"It's as obvious as the sun coming up somewhere in this world that they tried to kill this bill," a furious Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said last night in an interview. "And all 21 Republican senators up for reelection are going to have to explain how they brought down the most significant reform ever to come before this Congress. They brought this baby down."
But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said insistence on a line-item-veto vote was proof that the GOP is serious about passing the toughest possible overhaul of the way Congress conducts its business. Efforts to give Bush power to strike individual items from spending bills have been struck down by the Supreme Court, but Senate Republicans insist that the latest version will pass constitutional muster.
It is not a "line item veto" nor is it an "unrelated measure." Jonathan Weisman presumably has been reporting politics long enough to know that. The amendment would allow pork barrel items to be stripped out of unrelated legislation and sent back to Congress for an up or down, on the record vote. It is very much tied to ethics reform. The vote that failed last night was a vote on cloture. Harry Reid tried to cut off debate and eliminate an on the record vote for the amendment.
This is blatant political spin and is really beneath the Washington Post. Harry Reid needs to allow a simple up or down vote on the amendment. Everyone should be able to get behind a measure that would cut the pork barrel spending that is so often a political payback to lobbyists. This should not be a partisan issue. It is instructive to look at who actually derailed the bill:
Reid and McConnell worked to reach a compromise that would have brought the Gregg bill to a vote in the coming weeks, but that pact could not overcome the objections of Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), an opponent of the line-item veto.
Government Bytes also has coverage.
Other Links to this Post
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Howie's Moisture Farm — Thursday, 18 January , 2007 @ 1:27 pm
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Sister Toldjah » Washington Post spins the ‘halting’ of the Senate ethics and lobbying reform bill — Thursday, 18 January , 2007 @ 2:05 pm
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Blue Crab Boulevard » The Byrd-Reid Full Spin Ahead Earmark Protection Racket — Thursday, 18 January , 2007 @ 6:22 pm
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Blue Crab Boulevard » Ethics Bill Passes Senate — Friday, 19 January , 2007 @ 6:08 am
By Ed, Thursday, 18 January , 2007 @ 3:36 pm
Too bad the ‘Nuclear Option’ was never used. Cutting off filibusters could be very valuable now.
By Gaius, Thursday, 18 January , 2007 @ 3:46 pm
The filibuster actually has a good reason for existing. It does tend to force compromise if used properly. It can also be misused as an obstructionist tool.