Concern About Interpretation
"There's always a little of the 'this is Armageddon' approach, but you do have to be concerned about how broadly this bill may be interpreted," Peter Henning, a former Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement lawyer, said of the bank concerns in a telephone interview.
The practice of selling information derived from contacts with lawmakers or their staff is not new -- lobbyists have been doing it for years and are required to register with the Secretary of the Senate. Lawmakers, in increasing numbers after a series of Wall Street Journal stories on the issue, have trained their sights on another version of information gathering, which they refer to as "political intelligence."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid stripped the political intelligence disclosure requirements from the measure the Senate initially considered last week. Instead, it called for a study of the issue. Grassley's amendment, which was reattached to the bill with the support of 32 Republicans, 27 Democrats and one independent, overruled the opposition of Senate leadership.
The future of the measure is now in the hands of the House, which Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a Virginia Republican, said would vote on a version of the broader bill this week.
'Most Important Part'
Representative Louise Slaughter, the New York Democrat who has been one of the measure's leading advocates, said last week she would push against efforts to change or water down the legislation. Slaughter told reporters on Feb. 3 that she was "particularly pleased" that the Senate voted to include Grassley's provision because "that's the most important part of the bill."
Lobbyists and lawyers pushing for changes to the measure face growing momentum behind idea that had languished for years, said Henning, who is now a law professor at Wayne State University in Detroit.
"The entire bill has taken on the aura of 'Mom and apple pie' and you just can't be against it," Henning said. "This used to be dead on arrival, but now it's so alive I don't know how you can fight it."