Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Virginia) Has Been Reluctant to Discuss RAWA in the Judiciary Committee
The Republican victory in Tuesday’s 2014 midterm elections provides the GOP with the initiative in federal legislation these next two years. That lets the Republican Party set the agenda in Congress and drive the debate on national policy.
President Barack Obama has the power to veto any bill the U.S. Congress passes. Sixty U.S. senators must vote on a bill to override a filibuster. Two-thirds must vote on a bill to override a presidential veto. With 52 to 54 seats likely to be in the Republican bloc when the votes are finally tallied, the Republican majority won’t have near the votes to override a veto.
McConnell and Boehner Take the Offensive
Still, soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker of the House John Boehner will have the ability to push certain bills. The two GOP leaders will have the votes to pass legislation and put it on Obama’s desk. To borrow a sports analogy, the Republican Party has been playing defense these past 6 years, but now, they get to play offense.
The Republicans will be able to drive the debate, because they can set a bill on Obama’s desk any time. While the president can veto, there are political consequences for doing so. Even though Obama won’t be running for reelection in 2016, a whole bunch of his political allies will be. Thus, Obama’s party members will be held hostage by his actions. If all he does is veto, it might come with a political cost.
Graham and Chaffetz – RAWA Legislation
With GOP control, online gambling could become a political cause at a point. Many social conservatives would support the Restoration of America’s Wire Act, sometimes known as RAWA.
The two have been championing the legislation in their respective houses of Congress since spring 2014. Most people believe the two introduced the legislation to gain the support of Sheldon Adelson, the man who wants to see RAWA passed and online gambling banned categorically across all 50 states.
Now, Senator Lindsey Graham and Representative Jason Chaffetz are working with the majority party in both houses. Their political allies are in a position to promote their legislation, if they so wish. The question is: do the Republicans want to tackle online gambling?
Complicated Calculations
Gambling is a complicated issue for Republicans. A hard core of social conservatives seem gambling in a moral light. They see it as immoral–a matter of sin. Financial conservatives take a libertarian view of such issues. They don’t believe the federal government should be involving itself in people’s personal decisions, at least when those people aren’t harming anybody.
That dynamic plagues Republican politicians at any level of government: the interplay between freedom of choice and moral decisions. National lawmakers have a third factor they must consider: states rights.
States Rights and RAWA
States rights have been an issue on the national scene from the beginning. States rights were debated when the U.S. Constitution was first framed, and the first 13 states were ratifying that Constitution. States rights were at the heart of the U.S. Civil War. When the civil rights movement challenged white privilege in the south a hundred years later, the dichotomy between federal intervenion in states rights was again at the heart of the debate.
With the advent of the Tea Party, the flames of that debate are once again being stoked. Bills introduced by Republican lawmakers often have to be couched in terms of states right. That’s why Lindsey Graham and Jason Chaffetz cited states rights when they introduced the RAWA legislation. They claimed that states like Utah and South Carolina have anti-gambling legislation, but New Jersey’s legalization of gambling puts Utah’s and South Carolina’s rights to protect its citizens at risk.
Thus, the champions of RAWA use states rights arguments to impose a 50-state ban on online gambling, including those states which voted to legalize such gaming. Proponents of online gambling laugh at the hypocrisy and poor logic of the pro-RAWA advocates, pointing out that geolocation technology assures no one in South Carolina or Utah is in danger of being lured onto licensed New Jersey online casinos or poker rooms.
Bob Goodlatte Blocked RAWA
At the end of the day, Republican legislators have to balance personal freedom, social conservatism, and states rights issues when voting on bills like the RAWA. No matter how they vote, they are likely to offend a lot of their own supporters. In that instance, most GOP members would prefer to avoid such votes. That’s why the Republican Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Representative Bob Goodlatte from Virginia, has buried Chaffetz’s legislation in committee–so far, at least.
Whether Representative Bob Goodlatte continues to block such legislation is uncertain. Whispers suggestion the Restoration of America’s Wire Act might be debated during the lame duck session of Congress, when the previous congress serves out its term. If so, then online gambling proponents will have to keep a close eye on congress during the Christmas season.
