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 Senator Ron Wyden decided to withdraw an amendment to legalize and tax online gambling in order to fund the healthcare reform. Wyden's communications director made a statement to The Hill who said that Wyden didn't want to add the controversial subject into the healthcare debate and would be removing the amendment from being considered.
The Senate Finance Committee began considering his plan to have gambling help finance healthcare on Tuesday. The law would tax online gambling and use the revenue to pay for health insurance subsidies.
"The last thing Senator Wyden wants to do is make it more difficult to expand subsidies for working families by introducing a new contentious issue to the debate," said Wyden's communications director Jennifer Hoelzer. "So when he offers the amendment he will do it with other funding mechanisms."
Although democrats in the House of Representatives have shown support for the idea of taxing Internet gambling to pay for the subsidies, the concept is not likely to succeed. The controversial healthcare reform is already under speculation and Democratic leaders in the Senate indicated that they do not want to add to the controversy by bringing up gambling as a way to fund it.
Internet gambling advocates were particularly excited about the proposed amendment and some House members were seriously considering adding it. Republican Jim McDermott has written legislation that would provide a system to insure and collect taxes on internet gambling. The legislation goes along with Republican Barney Frank's bill to legalize and regulate online gambling.
"We believe this makes sense. Congress should no longer allow tens of billions of dollars in new revenue to remain on the sidelines when it can be dedicated to increasing healthcare affordability for low-income Americans," said a spokesman for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, Michael Waxman. The Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative is a coalition of financial service companies who support online gambling.
Although it seems like an ongoing battle, the legalization and regulation of online gambling is getting close. The taxing of internet gambling would generate an estimated 62.7 billion dollars over the next 10 years. The need for the extra revenue will soon be too good to pass up. The billions of dollars it would generate would help bridge the gap in budget deficits and ultimately help Americans live better lives by funding education, healthcare and other government funded programs that help communities live better lives.
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