Today's Quote

The Senate just needs to pass "anything to get us into conference," where the real decisions will be made, House telecommunications subcommittee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) said Tuesday at a telecom forum hosted by National Journal's Technology Daily. "It's not supposed to work like this," said Celia Wexler, vice president for advocacy for Common Cause, a government watchdog group. "It's appalling that you can hear a member [of Congress] say that in public." Watchdog groups say that while most conference negotiations are closed to public view, lobbyists continue to influence the members and their staffers, sometimes even supplying language that ends up as the law of the land. In the case of telecom, the groups say, so many persuasive and well-financed lobbyists are involved that they may battle to a standstill, leaving Congress flush with campaign contributions but unable to agree on a final bill before adjournment. "We're going to do all we can to put the citizens back into the process," Wexler said. That won't be easy. The evolving telecom legislation is following a well-worn path that Congress often uses to craft spending, tax and other bills outside public view. Though Congress has held numerous public hearings on telecom issues over the past year, details of legislation have been largely worked out in private. Several senators and their staffers have complained, off the record, that the process has been closed even to them.