Dem Says Congress Will Pass Colombia Deal In Lame-Duck Session

CongressDaily PM:

Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) was confident that House leaders would schedule a vote on the trade pact in a post-election session, when wavering members would be more willing to support it. "I think there'll be a vote in the latter part of November, or early December," he said, adding it would likely be approved in those circumstances.

More evidence that we're watching some really nasty shenanigans unfold. Here's the real bottom line to this: Right now, even Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) - Mr. Corporate Hack - is upset at Bush's tactics. In other words, people inclined to support the deal like Baucus are worried Bush's tactics have rankled lawmakers into voting against the Colombia deal - lawmakers who normally would. So the only real reason to delay it - if it is going to be brought up again later - is to pass it, not to reject it.

This is pretty simple legislative logic. Why delay it, rather than seizing the opportunity to kill it right now? My guess: Because the Democratic leadership doesn't want to kill it - they want to pass it in a more electorally-safe way.

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