Senate Cybersecurity Bill Stalled By Ridiculous Amendments 233
wiredmikey writes "Despite a recent push by legislators, it remains unclear whether the Senate will manage to vote on the proposed comprehensive cybersecurity legislation (Cybersecurity Act of 2012) before Congress adjourns at the end of the week for its summer recess. Once all the amendments (over 70) have been dealt with, the Senate could decide to vote on the bill immediately, or wait till after the summer recess. As usual, the Democrats and Republicans have been unable to agree on which amendments will be considered, effectively stalling the bill. And most interesting, is that in typical U.S. political fashion, some of the amendments have nothing to with the topic on hand (cybersecurity): ... Sen. Frank Lautenberg has filed a measure to ban high-capacity ammunition clips as part of a gun-reform proposal. And Sen. Mike Lee filed a bill that would ban abortion in Washington, D.C. after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Sen. Michael Bennet and Tom Coburn filed an amendment to expand the Office for Personnel Management's federal government's data center consolidation initiative. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested an amendment to repeal the Affordable Care Act."
the bill already failed, what is this article abou (Score:5, Informative)
??? the bill failed a vote on the senate floor minutes ago
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-cybersecurity-act-fails-to-pass-in-the-senate-20120802,0,1649471.story
Re:bill itself (Score:5, Informative)
Well, here's the summary links to the bill itself.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:S.2105 [loc.gov]:
I'm a little out of my depth but "comprehensive legislation" these days makes me nervous that there aren't sneaky things in there.
Re:the bill already failed (Score:5, Informative)
Looks like you're right. The bill was reintroduced as S.3414 [loc.gov] which was voted on [senate.gov] and rejected a few hours ago.
Re:Who decides? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Has there ever been a high capacity clip? (Score:4, Informative)
In fairness to the Senator, the amendment bans "transfer or possession of large capacity ammunition feeding devices". It's the reporter who doesn't know a clip from a magazine.
It's actually a pitifully toothless law, as it excludes any extended magazines already in existence in the country. It would take decades to have any effect. Not that it has any chance of passing in the first place.
Re:Business as usual, but it still seems absurd (Score:4, Informative)
"As far as I know, no other country does this ludicrous crap"
You haven't studied many other countries legislatures much, then. Look up things like the cow walk in Japan and some of the shenanigans where fistfights break out various legislatures.
What about Belgium when it couldn't even form a government for a year and a half? They finally did late last year.
What about the long term period of the Italian government of the month that went on for decades?
What about India two years ago when they only managed to pass 4 whole bills in one session?
I'm not saying the US congres is good, it's just not the only one that does this.