Subject: Re: Trump: I Would Encourage Russia...
I know you are right but to drop it before even reaching the Senate floor was not a good faith effort in my estimation.

The other problem with the bill was that they didn't work on it in normal committee. Instead they ran one of their famous "Gangs of" clique things that seems to be so popular in the Senate nowadays. Ted Cruz pointed out that this should have been worked on in regular channels through the relevant committees, and he's right.

In recent years these "Gangs" I think are causing more problems than they solve - bills aren't produced in regular order and only a few chosen Senators are allowed to set up the legislative language. Ironically the "Gang" system blew up another chance at immigration reform a few years ago:

https://www.pon.harvard.edu/da...

5 Lessons from the Collapse of a Bipartisan Agreement
The failed 2017 bipartisan agreement on immigration nonetheless offers negotiation skills and strategies to learn from:

Establish a representative working group. The Gang of 6’s deal was thwarted by hard-line voices on immigration that felt excluded from the negotiations. When appointing a committee to represent a larger group, make sure it includes the full range of perspectives.