Whatever Happened to That Presidential Library Disclosure Bill, Anyhows?
Speaking of the George W. Bush library and think tank bound for the SMU campus -- as we were this morning and will be tomorrow, after university president Gerald Turner addresses the United Methodist Church's South Central Jurisdictional Conference at the Hilton Anatole -- ProPublica this afternoon brings news concerning Rep. Henry Waxman's bill that would require the president and his peoples disclose donors' names. The bill -- officially known as the Presidential Library Donation Reform Act of 2007 -- got plenty of bipartisan love from the House of Representatives in March 2007; only 34 voted against it, all Republicans.
But now it's stalled in the Senate, notes ProPublica, because Republicans don't want to get crossways with Bush, who've very much against the bill -- dunno why. At least, that's what Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's spokesman says: "Republicans have a hold on it because Bush is opposed." And, yes, the story does note several times that Bill Clinton also has not disclosed all the names of his foundation's donors. In related news, Houston Chronicle columnist Rick Casey writes today that all presidential libraries "now represent the black bag of American politics." That's just bipartisanship in action. --Robert Wilonsky
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