They prefer a bill that would put the federal government in charge of supervising and training private security workers and terminating contracts with their security firms.
Robert Stavins, the Harvard economist, told me he would actually prefer a bill that cut emissions less in the short term but created a template for much bigger cuts in the future.
The left, with its (generally) instinctive support for the Human Rights Act, tends to plump for the former; the right, which prefers the language of "responsibilities" and would prefer a bill of rights to the HRA, opts for the latter.
But he balked at forcing individuals to go through the process of checking the backgrounds of those they choose to sell their weaponry to, preferring a "bill of sale" – essentially, an honor system.
The centrist Democrats prefer a bill that more closely resembles the Baucus Plan which will cost around $880 billion over ten years.
Others preferred a conservative bill dubbed "cut, cap and balance" that passed the House this month but was killed in the Senate.
Many Democrats would have preferred a larger bill, but agreed to pare back, including cuts to favored education and health programs, to win three crucial Republican votes in the Senate.
The White House said Thursday that it would have preferred a spending bill without earmarks, but that the current version would have to suffice -- even according to Defense Secretary Robert Gates -- much to the chagrin of Sen. McCain.
Although the White House indicated on Monday that the administration would prefer a "clean" bill to raise the debt ceiling, Boehner said Obama told him during Wednesday's meeting that he would allow for a bill with other deficit-reduction measures included.
In an interview, Koppell said he would have preferred passing a bill he co-sponsored with Fidler in February.
