>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Doug Henwood" <dhenwood at panix.com>
>
>
>[Hey Nathan, is Daschle actually pursuing some secret progressive agenda
>here?]
>
>I doubt it, although there are probably some liberal Dems who were happy to
>pocket MBNA's money for voting for the bill but won't be too unhappy if the
>GOP kills the bill by holding out against the Senate limits on housing
>equity and the anti-abortion provisions.
>
>Biden from the stater of MBNA, I mean Delaware, will probably be on the
>conference committee, so he'll be pushing to save the deal, but Tom Delay
>and Dick Armey may just help kill it. All I can say is that if Trent Lott
>had been running the conference committee on the Senate side, they would
>have happily resolved the issues in favor of the House version- something
>that the Dems are unlikely to do.
Uh, I thought a divided Senate is what kept the bill bottled up, and now that it's got a Dem majority, Daschle says he wants to deliver something to the president. Sounds like Cockburn may be right about the virtues of gridlock.
Doug