The SAFE Port Act

A sports columnist for the Chicago Tribune, in an effort to grab the attention of the upcoming administration, called for the repeal of the UIGEA recently, and for the regulation of online poker.
In an article that he published for the paper stating such, he chastised Bill Frist for attaching the bill to the SAFE Port Act in 2006. What exactly IS the SAFE Port Act, you may be asking yourself, and what relation does it have to the UIGEA?
The Security and Accountability for Every Port Act of 2006, or the SAFE Port Act, is a proposal to which the United States should cover its port security. It called for a number of programs to improve domestic security in the U.S. such as additional requirements for maritime facilities, creation of the Transport Worker Identification Credential, the establishment of interagency operational centers for port security, a port security grant program, the container security initiative, foreign port assessments, customers trade partnership against terrorism and it created the Domestic Nuclear Detention Office within the Department of Homeland Security and appropriated funds toward the integrated deepwater system program.
So what does this have to do with online poker and internet gambling? Absolutely nothing.
You see, democracy as it stands in the U.S., and not as it was originally intended, allows for some Congressmen, when they feel that they do not have a legal ground to stand on with a proposed legislation, to attach a bill to another bill, so that when another Congressmen votes on the bill for its original intent, he will also vote on its attachment…and with this system, you can’t vote for one without the other.
So, following all of the terrorist scares and what have you, of course the United States federal government was going to vote on a bill to keep our ports safe. What better way to push your anti-gambling agenda than to attach it to a bill to keep our domestic safety? Diabolical genius.