dc_dux

Host...I dont have an answer for you.

The "secret hold" is one of those arcane Senate parliamentary procedures where a Senator can block a bill from coming out of Committee and going to the floor for a vote by "secretly" informing the Chair of the Committee in writing that he/she is "holding" the bill. In spite of the fact that most Senators say its a terrible procedure, they wont vote to change the standing rules of the Senate to abolish it.

The commonly accepted practice has been to limit "holds" to member of the Committee where the bill originated. Dodd is not on either the Intel Committee or the Judiciary Committee.

(Although this year, there were more Republican holds from non-Committee members than I can ever recall before. I think there is still a Republican hold on the Freedom of Information Act reform bill that the Dems passed in Committee in Feb)

Since Dodd put both a "hold" on one the two competing bills and also promised a fillibuster, he obviously knew that one of the bills would reach the floor.

In any case, Reid is a poor excuse for a majority leader and this is just the latest example. There are lots of Democratic member concerns with these "Protect America" bills that go beyond the telcomm immunity and Dodd, Feingold and others are prepared to fight Reid on this one......stay tuned next year, I guess.

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