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Reid pushes bill to allow for online gambling
By KEVIN FREKING
The Associated Press
Saturday, December 4, 2010; 1:15 AM

WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is pushing behind the scenes for lame-duck legislation that would allow poker games over the Internet but restrict initial licenses to casinos and racetrack operators that have been in businesses at least five years.

Some of the biggest casino operators in Reid's home state of Nevada are eager to get a piece of the online gambling industry, which generates an estimated $5 billion a year for offshore operators.

A congressional aide familiar with the issue said Reid aides were circulating the draft legislation, and a copy of it was obtained by The Associated Press. The aide was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and did so only on condition of anonymity.

Four years ago, Congress effectively banned online gambling, passing legislation that prohibits banks and credit card companies from making payments to gambling websites. Supporters of online poker face less opposition with Democrats in charge of both chambers for another month. The House Financial Services Committee this year approved a bill that established a regulatory structure for online gambling.

Reid's office would not answer questions about the legislation.
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Congressional calendar endangers repeal of 'don't ask, don't tell'
By Philip Rucker and Ed O'Keefe
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, December 4, 2010; 7:11 PM

This was supposed to be the year that the law banning gays from serving openly in the military would be repealed. President Obama and the top Pentagon brass made clear their distaste for "don't ask, don't tell." Polling suggests the nation has moved past it. The Democrats who control Congress, as well as some Republicans, are ready to overturn it. And last week a final potential obstacle was removed when an exhaustive Pentagon study found little risk in undoing the law.
Yet with the lame-duck session of Congress hurtling toward a chaotic close, the effort to repeal the policy is in peril. A divided Senate panel heard stern testimony Friday from the Marine Corps commandant and the Army chief of staff, who warned against incorporating openly gay troops into combat units now serving in Afghanistan.

But the biggest barrier is the calendar. Although a repeal bill passed the House in May, and there appear to be enough votes for it in the Senate, there are only two weeks left in the lame-duck session. Other priorities, such as negotiating a compromise on extending Bush-era tax cuts, have consumed congressional leaders.

Repeal advocates are growing convinced that time may be running out. "The rules of the Senate can capture you when you end up in the 12th hour," said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.

The White House summoned repeal advocates for a private meeting Friday at which, sources said, administration officials told them they would not trade this priority for others. The officials were bullish, saying that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen would not have testified this past week if they did not believe the bill could reach Obama's desk before January.
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Their efforts got a boost Friday when Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) said he would support repeal, which is included as part of a broader defense authorization bill. He joins Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), who have signaled they would vote to end the ban if Democrats allow enough debate time to introduce amendments to the bill.
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How an effort with such broad support could be in jeopardy is a classic Washington tale of competing priorities and shifting political realities, according to interviews with more than a dozen lawmakers, administration officials and other stakeholders.

Since Obama was sworn into office, the question has never been if, but always when and how, he would get Congress to overturn the law. It was a campaign pledge, and when Gates and Mullen met with Obama after his inauguration, a senior administration official said the president told them: "I don't believe in 'don't ask, don't tell' and I want it repealed. . . . We're going to do it together."

The three men decided 2010 would be the year, partly because they knew building a winning case would take time. Polling shows about six in 10 Americans support overturning the ban, but to sway skeptical lawmakers, proponents would need statistically sound evidence to alleviate concerns that allowing gays to serve openly would interfere with combat readiness.

In January, Obama called for repeal in his State of the Union address. The next month, Gates and Mullen testified in support, and in March, they ordered a comprehensive study of the impact to the armed services. Defense Department General Counsel Jeh C. Johnson and Army Gen. Carter F. Ham, who did not know each other but would soon bond over sweet potato pie, led the review. They held so many town hall gatherings and meetings that they came face-to-face with more than 23,000 troops and their families.

The study cost about $9 million and resulted in a 362-page report, released Nov. 30 - 17 years to the day after President Clinton signed "don't ask, don't tell" into law. It concluded that a large majority of troops were comfortable with overturning restrictions on gays in uniform and that they expected it would have little or no effect on their units.

Some lawmakers were critical of the administration's timetable, saying the White House was too cautious in tackling an issue that had roiled the Clinton White House.

"This is one of those times where you sit and say, wait a moment, can't you even see the nation has moved forward?" said retiring Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.), a former vice admiral of the Navy. "When you have leaders lagging those they are supposed to be leading, you lose credibility."
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