Anti-junk e-mail bill nears passage
A bill that calls for fines if a marketer deluges Internet users with unsolicited e-mail moved closer to passage Wednesday as a House committee unanimously approved the measure.
The House bill is closely modeled after telemarketing regulations, and its sponsor said the need to bring those standards to the Internet age is far overdue. The bill requires those sending unsolicited commercial e-mail messages often called spam to provide a valid return e-mail address so recipients can serve notice that they want to be taken off the mailing list.
The Federal Trade Commission would be given the authority to bring action against senders of spam who violate the provisions of the legislation. Internet service providers could also sue spammers in federal court for $500 per message, up to $50,000, if a spammer willfully breaks the law.
Democrats announce redistricting strategy
Republicans feel they have several advantages in the upcoming redistricting of the House, but national Democrats have pledged $13 million to improve their own chances.
Democratic National Chairman Terry McAuliffe pledged money Tuesday to both congressional and state legislative redistricting. The cash will be raised by direct requests from the national party, House Minority leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri and redistricting leader Rep. Martin Frost of Texas, as well as by fund-raising events in the late spring and early summer.
The GOP promised to do what is necessary, but it is typically more cautious about announcing its plans. Republicans see the shift of seats from the industrial states of the North to the South and West as factors that will help them.
"Never before have we played a major role in redistricting and never have we taken the lead on assisting state parties and state legislative committees with redistricting," McAuliffe said. "We will be providing, technological, political and legal assistance."
Negotiations fail on election reform
Negotiations between House Republicans and Democrats to form a joint committee on election reform have broken down. "Despite many weeks of meetings and negotiations, we regret that we have been unable to reach agreement," Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt said in a joint statement Wednesday.
The two said they would instead ask regular House committees to study the issue.
The failed negotiations highlight the charged atmosphere that still exists over the November elections. President Bush was declared the winner only after five weeks of court hearings and start-and-stop recounts in Florida.
Republicans wanted a panel with a one-seat GOP majority and proposed a 6-5 membership. Democrats wanted equal representation.
No comments
Commenting is turned off for this story.