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Barney Franks new Online Gambling Legislation 3 April, 2009, Peter Bowman, Staff writer We have long known that Barney Frank intends to introduce a Bill to Congress that will repeal the UIGEA, but recently he has outlined the approach that will be taken in raising the Bill and attempting to see it pass through the House. One point that Frank is at pains to stress, is that the new Bill, aimed at repealing UIGEA and providing a framework for regulated online gambling in the United States, will be introduced as a standalone Bill debated on its own merits. It will not be snuck through the house attached to another Bill at the eleventh hour of the house's last sitting with no chance for members to debate it, as was the case with UIGEA. Former Senator Bill Frist managed to controversially push UIGEA through the House by attaching it to a homeland security bill to be passed by the last session of Congress. With no time to debate the bill and urgency in passing the 'must pass legislation' to which it was attached, the UIGEA was not debated. Even opponents of online gambling have expressed admiration for Frank's approach to give the proposed new law full house scrutiny before it is either passes or fails. Jim Backlin, vice president of the Christian Coalition of America stated that “I don’t think Republicans should have done that. We should have been courageous and put it on the floor as a standalone bill".
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