Last night, in an yet another attempt to pass controversial legislation, Internet gambling was tacked onto the Ports bill. It passed by a voice vote in the Senate and 409 to 2 in the House. President Bush is expected to sign the bill into law by Wednesday. The Ports bill has been under construction for over a year as senators and congressmen have been busy creating a bill that would protect American ports. It was only deemed critical after it was learned that the UAE could possibly control American ports and has now been pushed through as those in Congress are more concerned with their re-election campaigns than truly supporting proper legislation.
The final bill has stripped out one vital part necessary to truly secure American ports. Felons convicted of serious crimes are still allowed to work at the ports. While those who have been convicted of terror related crimes, treason, and espionage are barred from working the ports, those who are guilty of illegal use of firearms, identity fraud, bribery and murder are still allowed to hold positions mainly due to the unions lobbying Congress because they feared too many of their members would lose their jobs. The joint House and Senate conference in charge of getting this legislation passed, dropped the stiffer requirements to placate the unions.
By dropping the stiffer requirements, it assures that, at the least, problems with the ports, like the ones with the East Coast Longshoreman’s Association, will continue to be associated with organized crime and, at the worst, that workers at the ports will be compromised and serious offenses, such as smuggling weapons and drugs, can and most likely will occur. Instead of making the ports more secure, Congress has left the status quo, masking it with the appearance of security by instituting a few new measures such as radiation scanning and response and recovery plans for terrorist attacks.
This is of worrying concern because, of the 9,000 workers checked in New York and New Jersey, over half had criminal records, including members of the deadly MS-13 gang, murderers, arsonists and drug dealers. Most of the ports in America are still controlled by organized crime. The Dubai company had a clean record on law enforcement and was willing and able to continue that trend and abide by American law. The new law keeps the criminals in control of our ports and puts us at greater risk than the Dubai ports company could ever do.
The second part of the bill was the tacking on, yet again, of something unrelated because it was too controversial to pass on its own. It will now be illegal for companies to take credit cards from Americans, effectively banning Internet gambling in America. Most Internet gambling sites are based overseas and, with Americans betting over $6 billion a year (half the worldwide take in online gambling), Congress is far more upset with losing that revenue than the supposed facts that Internet gambling is helping drug dealers and terrorists launder their money. Those lobbying against Internet gambling state that it is a huge problem because it preys on compulsive gamblers and children.
Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), whose home-state casinos are split over the Internet gambling measure, briefly weighed scuttling the bill over the provision before agreeing to go along, aides said.
How much more obvious does it need to be? While Senator Frist is right that gambling, like any addiction, can destroy families, why is gambling in the form of state lotteries and casinos still allowed on American soil? No one is calling for Riverboat casinos, Mohegan Sun, Atlantic City or Las Vegas to shut down their facilities. Internet gambling is not the giant evil that Congress is making it out to be. Internet gambling is simply not giving America its perceived cut of the profits.
Despite several companies stating that they would pay whatever taxes would be due from its American customers, Congress decided to use protectionism and keep Americans in America with their gambling dollars. Instead of protecting Americans, Congress is driving Internet gambling underground where there will be no protections for its citizens, resulting in more people being hurt by this legislation. Instead of protecting its citizens, Congress has struck a blow, twice, in one bill, leaving Americans more exposed in the world than it was yesterday.
