RAWA flanking move by failed presidential candidate

In a sly move that could rank with the 2006 passage of the UIGEA attached to a security bill, failed presidential candidate Sen. Lindsey Graham has inserted language from the rapidly failing Restoration of America’s Wire Act in a massive federal Appropriations Bill in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

RAWA is widely believed to be the work of lobbyists engaged by anti-online gambling land casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who has been trying unsuccessfully to push the measure through both the House and Senate of the US Congress for the past three years (see previous reports).

Media reports from the USA Monday claimed that Graham received support from Adelson for his failed bid for the Republican presidential nomination this year, and in a quid pro quo has inserted the internet gambling ban provision into the spending bill.

The RAWA language was inserted into the huge spending bill in the Senate “at the request of Senator Graham,” according to Senate Appropriations Committee spokesperson Chris Gallegos.

Here is the language that Graham has inserted into the Appropriations bill:

“Internet Gambling — Since 1961, the Wire Act has prohibited nearly all forms of gambling over interstate wires, including the Internet. However, beginning in 2011, certain states began to permit Internet gambling. The Committee notes that the Wire Act did not change in 2011. The Committee also notes that the Supreme Court of the United States has stated that ‘criminal laws are for courts, not for the Government, to construe.”

Unfortunately for Graham and his sponsor, the Appropriations Bill sleight-of-hand did not go unnoticed (political lobbyists are especially alert for these kind of moves following the late night UIGEA debacle in 2006)

The Senate version of the Appropriations Bill now moves to the House Appropriations Committee, where it is expected to attract comment and possibly be removed from the Appropriations measure by chairman Rep. John Culberson before it can progress to a Conference Committee to iron out any Senate – House differences.

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