After having its previous hearing canceled due to inclement weather in Washington, D. C., the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security will take up the discussion of the Restoration of America’s Wire Act (RAWA), or HR 707, on March 26. While the hearing itself is expected to be a primarily one-sided affair, there are several constituencies on both sides of the aisle expressing their disagreement to the bill as its sponsors demonstrate a great deal of hubris and a lack of knowledge on the subject.
RAWA, which was introduced in the House of Representatives by Republican Utah Representative Jason Chaffetz last month, has drawn the ire of conservatives, states’ rights activists and liberal causes across the board. On the Red State blog, several writers have pointed out the “corruption and cronyism” that surrounds legislation in Washington in general and HR 707 in particular. Chaffetz, Red State says, is “carrying the water for Sheldon Adelson” in his drive for a federal ban on internet gaming and poker. Red State says that Chaffetz previously was “an ardent supporter of the Tenth Amendment, quoting Chaffetz as saying just a couple of years ago, ‘We need to allow states to have more control over policy making and implementation.’”
After getting in the pocket of Adelson, however, Chaffetz has changed his tune. Red State points out that, in a conference call recently with other state representatives, Chaffetz showed the ultimate in hubris by telling those that wanted online lottery ticket sales to continue to “present their own legislation” after HR 707 has passed if they want to change parts of the bill, basically saying to the individual states that they need the approval from Congress to govern an issue that they have traditionally been given oversight. This isn’t unexpected as HR 707 was primarily written by Adelson’s lobbyists and given to Chaffetz for introduction in the House and, outside of a couple of areas, completely bans online gaming and poker with no carve outs.
The conservative site TownHall.com has also picked up the call for legislators to turn against HR 707. Writer David Williams discusses Chaffetz’ actions regarding HR 707, saying the Representative is “myopic” in his attempts to ban online gaming and poker. For those states that are concerned about their lottery sales – which, in many cases, dedicate revenues to education funding – Williams accurately points out that, if those sales were halted, states would have to raise taxes to replace those revenues. “The Chaffetz bill is a classic corporate welfare that will only benefit one person and is an inappropriate and unnecessary use of federal powers that would weaken states’ rights,” Williams concludes.
Diverse organizations such as the Democratic Governors’ Association, the Americans for Tax Reform and others have also come out as opposing HR 707.
On another front, the major supporter for RAWA’s passage in the Senate, Republican South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, has demonstrated his lack of knowledge regarding the internet. After stating last year that the Wire Act “prevented online gambling” (even though the law, when written in 1961, couldn’t have envisioned the internet), Graham doubled-down on his ignorance of internet usage. In an interview last weekend regarding potential Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s usage of a private server for e-mail correspondence, Graham admitted he has never sent an e-mail, let alone used a private server. Even with this lack of knowledge, Graham is the leader of Adelson’s efforts to ban online gaming.
The hearing next week has also been roundly derided for its lack of a balance in witness presentations. Red State once again pounces on this, saying that Chaffetz “(is) stacking the deck with witnesses in support of the bill.” Red State points out that anyone with knowledge on the subject (state regulators, casino owners, online gaming and poker website operators) and even conservative groups that support online gaming regulation have been barred from testifying at the hearing by Chaffetz himself. “The GOP sees no hill worth dying on unless Sheldon Adelson or someone else cuts them a check first,” Red State says, continuing on to say the Republican Party has become “a bunch of politicians prostituting themselves to billionaires” and comparing the Chaffetz hearing to “the main boudoir in the Washington whorehouse.”
Whether the outrage from many regarding the sleazy manner of HR 707, including the loud voices of the Poker Players’ Alliance and its membership, will have an effect on next week’s hearing is not known at this time. What these vocal outlets are showing, however, is that the bill itself is misguided and should not pass.