A fine way to greet the new week:
House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said early Saturday morning that Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) promised him the House will not vote on the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) unless there is consensus on the bill.
“While I remain concerned about Senate action on the Protect IP Act, I am confident that flawed legislation will not be taken up by this House,” Issa said in a statement. “Majority Leader Cantor has assured me that we will continue to work to address outstanding concerns and work to build consensus prior to any anti-piracy legislation coming before the House for a vote.”
The announcement comes just hours after Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas), SOPA’s sponsor, made a major concession to the bill’s critics by agreeing to drop a controversial provision that would have required Internet service providers to block infringing websites.
Lamar Smith needs a primary challenger just for having considers such reckless and pandering legislation. I’d rather see a Democrat in his seat.
UPDATE: Patrick Ruffini tells me that Sheriff Richard Mack is thinking about putting up a primary challenge to Smith. Under Texas law, there’s a small window to file late, on February 1. So why not send the good sheriff some encouragement to do just that?
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