Fighting H.R. 4777, the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act

[Westland Bowl]

......Someone reported a few posts above that there are now 130 co-sponsors to HR4777. Where can we find out who these folks are and how we can email them? Even though they may not be our state Rep, we can still let them know we won't forget for the next presidential elections and we will also broadcast their record of limiting citizen's freedom as much as we can. Most of the co-sponsors belong to the party that cherish right to life but then don't give you much freedom to do something with it. Thoughts?

You can find out who they are by going to http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:h.r.04777: and clicking on "Cosponsors".

[Cynthia777]

and for specific info on contacting them, this link will give you their directory, email, etc. :

http://clerk.house.gov/members/index.html

[managra]

Thanks Westland Bowl and Cynthia for the info that i hope many of us will act on. It's time to let these co-sponsors know that their dictator-style and censorship may be good for Cuba or China but appalling to the average American (who really possess more intelligence than these co-sponsors give them credit for).

[paul02085]

Thanks Westland Bowl and Cynthia for the info that i hope many of us will act on. It's time to let these co-sponsors know that their dictator-style and censorship may be good for Cuba or China but appalling to the average American (who really possess more intelligence than these co-sponsors give them credit for).

Uh, I hate to tell you this, but these co-sponsers are proud of their stance on this issue as are a majority of their constituents. The cries of censorship will fall on deaf ears i am afraid, but it is worth the effort.

[Cynthia777]

I came across this link and thought it may be of interest...granted the vote was taken almost 6 years ago.. it demonstrates who was for and against passing the proposed bill to prohibit internet gambling the last time this was brought to the floor (it was then H.R. 3125 proposed by Goodlatte). For the most part state Reps. listed on this roll call are still in office, but you can check it out for yourself:

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2000/roll404.xml


Plus, not to say their opinions have changed (unfortunately there are now 130 co-sponsors of this bill, back then there were only 34), and especially since the Abramoff situation, may be feeling pressure so as to not seem "conspicuous", despite what their true opinions are....but I just thought this might be interesting

[sdaddy]

Cynthia,

I'm curious if you know where the House leadership stands on these bills to restrict internet gambling? I see that Roy Blunt is a cosponsor to H.R.s 4777 and 4411, but how about Majority Leader Boehner and Speaker Hastert? I think that how strongly the leadership pushes these bills could have a big impact on whether they become law.

[-z-]

Most of the co-sponsors belong to the party that cherish right to life but then don't give you much freedom to do something with it. Thoughts?

Actually it makes more sense if you use the non-politically correct term
"anti-choice"

-z-

[jetset]

There's an interesting article discussing the impact of the Abramoff scandal in the Washington publication The Hill right now.

And U.S. legal expert Lawrence G. Walters says that U.S. politicians' bid to ban online gambling this year is particularly dangerous, according to a story in IGN.

He says, "However, in this author's view, the online gambling industry has never been more vulnerable to adverse United States legislation than right now."

[Cynthia777]

Cynthia,

I'm curious if you know where the House leadership stands on these bills to restrict internet gambling? I see that Roy Blunt is a cosponsor to H.R.s 4777 and 4411, but how about Majority Leader Boehner and Speaker Hastert? I think that how strongly the leadership pushes these bills could have a big impact on whether they become law.

sdaddy,

Unless his views have changed, unfortunately Majority Leader Boehner voted "YEA" to the prior bill to prohibit online gambling introduced by Goodlatte in 1999 according to the roll call vote taken in 2000. Surprisingly, because he is a big advocate of "free speech" by students in universities, and being "open minded" to abstract views...you would think this would parallel his opinion at least in some manner concerning the issue of online gambling.

As Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert generally refrains from debating and voting when issues are brought to the House floor...so we may never know. He does have the choice to do so, and has the same privileges of other House members, such as voting, etc.... but it has been stated that he generally refrains from doing so.

[Cynthia777]

Another note about Speaker Hastert... after Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to corruption charges this past January, he gave about $70,000 to charity from the money received in "campaign contributions" from clients of Abramoff. He felt "it was appropriate to donate the money to charity", after all this came to surface.

In my opinion, I think that he takes a somewhat objective stand on the matter.. after a mess/scandal, at least he turned some aspect of it into a positive contribution, rather than just making statements of condemnation and speculation/fear about it occuring again when a bill like this comes back to the floor..like other Members/Senators are doing