The Senate Judiciary Committee remains stuck, unable to move the reporters shield bill, known as S. 448, Free Flow of Information Act of 2009 to the Senate floor.
Republicans on the Committee had 26 amendments to the bill, which has already been amended to resolve differences between its sponsors and the Obama administration. John Kyl (R-AZ) indicated he was willing to pull some of them but wanted most brought up for consideration. Democrats indicated their suspicion that the Republicans were merely filibustering by amendment.
Sponsor Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was prepared to try to sidestep the amendments, but agreed instead to work with Republicans privately to go through the pile of amendments. Sen. Leahy indicated that it looked like a working weekend for the Senate and suggested a meeting be scheduled on either Saturday 12/5 or Sunday 12/6.
Depending on the results of the conference on amendments, the bill should show up once again on the Judiciary mark-up agenda, or may be forwarded directly to the floor.
RBR-TVBR observation: It sounds like this bill is finally getting close to an ultimate resolution – Democrats are losing patience and will start pulling procedural strings to get it to the floor for a vote.
