Much of the same or new?

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The U.S. House Financial Services Committee marked up the 9/11 Bill (H.R. 10) and sent it to the Rules Committee with the controversial online gambling amendment intact.

The legislation aims to implement recommendations made by the 9/11 Commission, which was assembled in 2002 to assess the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorists attacks on the United States and explore means of preventing further attacks. Financial Services Committee Chairman Michael Oxley, R-Ohio, a supporter of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Funding Prohibition Act (H.R. 2143), elected to include the bill as an amendment to the 9/11 legislation.

H.R. 2143, which has already passed as a standalone bill, would block the use of credit cards, wire transfers and other “instruments of banking” for use in online gambling transactions.

The 9/11 Bill is multi-faceted, with many committees in the House taking ownership of various parts of it. The participating committees are sending their versions to the House Rules Committee, which will combine all aspects into a single piece of legislation to go before the full House. The Financial Services Committee focused today on banking transactions and anti-money laundering provisions.

The Senate, meanwhile, is drafting a version of its own.

Despite the inclusion of H.R. 2143, some observers believe Republican leadership will strip the Internet gambling language when the Rules Committee takes jurisdiction of the full bill.

“This goes pretty far up to the top in terms of who doesn’t want the Internet gambling piece included in it,” an anonymous Washington insider told IGN.

Republican leaders are trying to make sure the 9/11 bill is a focused piece of legislation and they fear that extra add-ons will weigh it down.

Oxley nevertheless went forward with the online gambling amendment and in doing so pointed out the Department of Justice’s testimony that Internet gambling is a safe haven for money laundering and implored the committee to take action.

“It is high time that Congress closes this loophole of online casinos to those with criminal and terrorist ties,” Oxley said.

The Rules Committee hasn’t set a timetable for the 9/11 Bill, but it’s expected to act quickly. Congress would like to pass it before adjourning for the November general elections. The last day before the break is Oct. 8, but that could change.

The only discussion of the Internet gambling amendment during today’s hearing was brought by Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., who moved to change it to make Internet gambling illegal if either the bettor or the operator is located in a jurisdiction were online gambling is illegal.

“It doesn’t matter if the operator is in a jurisdiction where they have a license,” Inslee said in introducing the amendment. “If they are allowing someone in the U.S. to access their site, it should be illegal.”

The Inslee amendment passed on a voice vote with no debate.