Having corrected my error of addressing my query to my bankruptcy source, and not this list, I've now gotten an answer. "He" is Daschle.
>In both cases, all Daschle needed to do to kill or maim the bill was
>follow the usual practices--in new sessions, bills go to committees,
>committee members get appointed to conferences.
-Down enough with the legislative mechanics for you, Nathan?
Yes, much more useful, although the argument that the second year of a Congress restarts all legislation is false.
Campaign finance will probably pass in the House soon and go straight to a conference committee with the Senate passed version-- it won't go back to a Senate committee either I would bet.
So while the facts are interesting as presented, they still fail to answer my question:
Why hasn't Daschle convened the conference commitee with the House? The GOP House leadership has been waiting to meet with Senate since the legislation passed.
If Daschle wanted the bill passed, he could have convened the committee last summer. Why didn't he?
As I said, I have no doubt that corporations are pushing for passage and folks like Biden are gunning to push it through, but those are not the only forces at work. Because if they were, the bill would already be passed as law.
The bill may still become law but like observing any phenomena-- when an object in motion suddenly stops, you have to assume other forces besides the original one are playing a factor. My argument is simply that working class forces play a real role in Democratic party actions-- not that they prevail all of the time but just that they matter, and because they matter, oganizing and strategy therefore are important in whether they prevail.
-- Nathan Newman