Centrisity

Agreement Reached

A tentative agreement has been reached in the battle for an Intelligence Reform bill.

Republican House Armed Services Chairman Duncan Hunter's concerns involved protecting the Chain of Command involved in Military intelligence gather, specifically, satellite data. The fix seemed to create language which is "intentionally ambiguous". Hunter stated:

"We have come to an agreement on changed bill language that we believe protects with necessary clarity the time-tested chain-of-command," the committee chiefs' statement said.

"Pending a review of the rest of the legislation, we are prepared to support the bill as amended by this new language."

The other major holdout, Congressman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) related to immigration provisions. Sensenbrenner backed off his opposition when assured they would be addressed in separate legislation next session.

One other item did catch my eye in the article. We have all heard Senator Frist squawk about up or down votes, and how important it is to at least allow for the full body to vote, up or down, regardless of the support an issue may have. But how does the GOP work:

The bill had enough votes to pass before the Thanksgiving break, but House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Illinois, would not let it go to the floor without the support of a majority of Republicans.

As usual, it is OK for them I guess

Flash