This morning, Harry Reid received a letter in which the Senate Republicans have pledged to halt all action on lame duck legislative items until a deal is reached on tax cuts. In this Nov 29 letter to Reid, signed by all 42 GOP Senators, Republican Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) penned the following:
\”… we write to inform you that we will not agree to invoke closure on the motion to proceed to any legislative item until the Senate has acted to fund the government and we have prevented the tax increase that is currently awaiting all American taxpayers. With little time left in this Congressional session, legislative scheduling should be focused on these critical priorities. While there are other items that might ultimately be worthy of the Senate\’s attention, we cannot agree to prioritize any matters above the critical issues of funding the government and preventing a job-killing tax hike.\”
Jon Kyl has been an important anti-gambling figure in the poker-politico scene, maintaining his objections to internet gambling since his election to Senate in 1994. He was a key figure in the passage of UIGEA, and stands strong against the act\’s repeal. Notably, \”angry about the Treasury’s role in delaying the enforcement of the UIGEA\”, Kyl blocked US Treasury officials from taking office this past February. He is also a key supporters of the controversial internet domain blacklist bill – the Combatting Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA). Perhaps the Homeland Security knew that all such lame duck actions would be stalled by the GOP when they preemptively seized 82 \”illegal\” domains last week under the moniker: Operation Our Sites II.
A video of Reid\’s reaction to the Kyl/McDonnell filibuster was published on the SenateDemocrats YouTube channel today.
According to an article on the filibuster published in The Hill, \”McConnell and other congressional leaders met with President Obama at the White House Tuesday to try to reach a deal on the tax cuts.\” In Reid\’s video, he states that Kyl has been chosen by the Republican party to represent them in these negotitations. Reid has selected Max Baucus (D-MT), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, to represent the Dems.
A number of measures, in addition to COICA and the completely dead HR 2267, that have been hoping for motion during the last session of the 111th Congress, are the DREAM Act (immigration reform bill), extensions on the nation\’s unemployment benefits, a repeal of \”Don\’t ask, Don\’t tell\”, and the long-stalled nuclear arms START treaty.
Everyone can rest safely on one account: @SenatorReid tweeted today that the bipartisan food safety bill made it in just under the wire.