A reply to my e-mail to Congressman Frank

beantownmaniac

beantownmaniac

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As I'm sure a lot of you did, I wrote my Congressman and Senators after Black Friday. Here's the reply from Congressman Barney Frank:

July 12, 2011




Dear XX. XXXXXX,

I was very pleased that you wrote to me expressing your support for ending the foolish federal ban on gambling over the Internet. I have been the leading Congressional advocate of the right of adults to gamble if they wish over the Internet, and I am pleased that there is increasing support for this position. The fact that so many people like yourself are writing is having a good impact on my colleagues and I am more optimistic now than I have been for some time that we can remove these unfair restrictions on people's freedom.

I was an outspoken opponent of the ban when it was first presented, and as you may know, it was actually added to federal law in a late night addition to an overall omnibus appropriations bill by Senator Bill Frist, who then thought this would help him in his bid to get extremely conservative support for President. When I became Chairman of the Financial Services Committee in 2007, which had jurisdiction over this, I began my effort to undo it. I did get a vote on a legalization bill in Committee in 2008, but it was at that point a very partisan vote with almost all the Republicans insisting on keeping the ban. By the next Congress, we had made some progress because people like yourself had let their Members of Congress know how much you opposed this interference with your ability to choose how to spend your own money, and again I was able to get a bill through the Committee in 2010, this time with more Republican support. Unfortunately, because of the financial crisis, we were not able to get time to put it on the schedule for Congress as a whole.

At first, when the Republicans took control of the House in 2010, I was pessimistic because this had been somewhat partisan. But I have been very pleased to work with Republican Congressmen John Campbell and Joe Barton, and some other Republicans who share your and my view that the federal government has no business interfering with adults' decisions in this way. And so I have become the main cosponsor of H.R. 1174 (to repeal the online gaming ban and establish rules to govern Internet betting) and H.R. 2366 (to repeal the online gaming ban specifically for poker playing and establish rules to govern Internet betting on poker), with Republicans John Campbell and Joe Barton being the main sponsors, respectively. We are working hard to line up other supporters and I have some hope that we will be able to get these bills to move. The Chairman of the Financial Services Committee who succeeded me, Mr. Bachus, is very much against these bills, but we are looking at another committee that may be able to move them.

I have enclosed an article for more information about the trouble we have unfortunately encountered in moving legislation on this issue. I will continue to fight hard against this misuse of prosecutorial resources to interfere with people's freedom, and to remove this foolish law. Your views will be very useful to me as I do so. Thank you for contacting my office.

BARNEY FRANK
 
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fugitive67

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very nice, it's refreshing to see that some representatives actually give us regular citizens credit for being able to make good decisions ... and agree that we should not be treated like children
 
Charade You Are

Charade You Are

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Frank has always been pro poker. He has sponsored or cosponsored a number of pro online gaming bills and supports Rep Barton's current legislation, HR2366.
 
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