'Microsoft 811' and Holt: "It's no longer my bill"

‘MICROSOFT 811’

Holt: "It's no longer my bill."

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In a town meeting in his New Jersey home district in July, Congressman Rush Holt made some disturbing statements which leave no doubt that H.R. 811 has become a bill that protects the interests of software corporations over the rights of citizens. In fact the Holt bill is NOT the Holt bill anymore! It has become ‘Microsoft 811’!

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Mr. Holt: "The bill has been changed since I introduced it. It's no longer my bill -- well, it's still my bill but it's been marked up in committee."

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Further he added:

"Unfortunately, the committee that made this change heard from Microsoft. They heard that Voice. The point is Microsoft did lobby strongly. It wasn't just Microsoft. It was everybody who—"

Audience question: “Diebold?”

Holt: "No, it was software -- the software industry."

There is something seriously wrong when a U.S. Congressman can say that an election reform bill he introduced was significantly changed through the lobbying effort of Microsoft and the software industry....that their voices were heard!

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Since when was the rule passed in Congress that whoever lobbies hardest gets to determine the content of U.S. legislation?

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When a U.S. Congressman can agree that “the software industry won!” — as Mr. Holt admitted at the July meeting, we have a critical problem that threatens the foundation of our Democracy.