Last Week in the Senate: S. 1

As of Wednesday Night

Republicans Halt Ethics Legislation
Senate Republicans scuttled broad legislation last night to curtail lobbyists' influence and tighten congressional ethics rules, refusing to let the bill pass without a vote on an unrelated measure that would give President Bush virtual line-item-veto power.

As of Thursday

The Bennett Amendment:

Bill to Treat Bloggers as Lobbyists Defeated
Lawrence Person writes "The attempt to require political bloggers to register as lobbyists previously reported by Slashdot has been stripped out of the lobbying reform bill. The vote was 55 to 43 to defeat the provision. All 48 Republicans, as well as 7 Democrats, voted against requiring bloggers to register; all 43 votes in favor of keeping the registration provision were by Democrats."

Bloggers dodged a bullet in Senate
Mark Fitzgibbons of GrassrootsFreedom.com, a critic of Section 220, is arguing that it would have applied to more than just a subset of bloggers.

Splendor in the Grassroots
A bipartisan coalition in the Senate, led by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Sen. Robert Bennett (R-UT), was beating back a direct assault on free speech.

FRC: "the Republican minority in the U.S. Senate flexed its political muscle on S. 1, the lobbying reform bill--and not a moment too soon."

Final Passage

Senate Passes Ethics Package
Senate Democrats and Republicans broke a difficult stalemate last night and approved 96 to 2 expansive legislation to curtail the influence of lobbyists, tighten congressional ethics rules and prevent the spouses of senators from lobbying senators and their staffs.