Capitol Hill?s effort to crack down on Internet piracy was hanging on for dear life Thursday after Senate leaders gave the green light to abandon ship following the Internet backlash led by Wikipedia, Google and other sites this week.
The signs of distress came from the top, as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid released Democrats from casting their lot with the PROTECT IP Act during a procedural vote scheduled for Tuesday. That also led to questions on the fate of the House Stop Online Piracy Act.
Continue ReadingReid's decision "means it's headed south fast and he is only keeping the vote scheduled to keep his word to Leahy," a senior Democratic aide told POLITICO.
Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson declined to comment on whether Reid would release Democrats.
Dealing another blow to PIPA, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Thursday urged Democrats to shelve the bill and put it aside for further study. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the bill?s main booster, meanwhile is scrambling to hammer out a manager?s amendment to address concerns from the tech industry ? particularly Internet companies and search services ? and other lawmakers.
The piracy push has left companies and lobbies representing Hollywood and Silicon Valley bitterly divided.
Earlier this week, the bill lost the support of seven of its co-sponsors amid online protests against PIPA and SOPA that caused thousands of websites to go dark and also encouraged Web users to contact their representatives.
It?s caused many to question whether PIPA would survive the next 24 hours, let alone Tuesday?s vote.
Last week, at the insistence of tech interests and cybersecurity experts, Leahy pledged to remove one of the most controversial provisions of the bill, which?would have allowed the government to block the Web addresses of websites accused of peddling movies, music and knockoff products.
Eager to reach a compromise, Leahy discussed with Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.)?exempting search engine blocking from the bill?in a move that was designed to appease one powerful, staunch foe: Google.
But offering to put another measure on the chopping block may not be enough to salvage PIPA.
?PROTECT IP is important legislation and we're certainly glad Sen. Leahy is trying to save it, but there really is not a lot of time left to salvage this. Also, having an agreement doesn't mean we have the votes to pass it,? another Senate Democratic aide said. ?This is like death by a thousand cuts.?
It wasn?t always this way. At the beginning of the week, PIPA enjoyed the support of more than 40 co-sponsors, strong backing from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, unions and Hollywood lobbies, and Reid named the bill as one of his legislative priorities this year on ?Meet the Press.?
When asked if Leahy still plans to move the bill forward, a Senate Judiciary aide said the chairman is continuing to work with Kyl and others to reach a consensus.
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