The push for international rules in the United States turned out to have little domestic support.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y ., who has helpeD-N.Y .the push for stricter rules on harassment in Congress, immediately called for an ethics investigation.
This month, several proposals were softened, including the plan to require companies to obtain "explicit" consent from users to collect and process their data, though the United States surveillance revelations could renew the push for tougher rules.
But the push for such rules has become unusually intense because of the possibility that Democrats in 2009 may consolidate control of the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives for the first time in 14 years.
The push for a rules change originated when some newspaper executives, chafing under the current 50-percent requirement, had sought a change that would drop the allowed floor for paid sales to 25percentt.
But the push for stricter rules just as the global economy is trying to nurse itself back to health, simply to satisfy the public, rather to find a solution that balances the risks to the economy and the banking system, would have been a mistake.
Syria has likewise dug in its heels: it was reported to have been building a nuclear reactor to produce bomb-usable plutonium with North Korea's help, and possibly Iranian cash, until the almost completed structure was bombed by Israel in 2007.Yet the push for tighter rules in support of a stronger NPT has met pushback from others too.
"We understand that risk has to be assessed somehow, but associating it with commercial is just not the right way to do it," said Ben Schulman, a spokesman for the Congress for the New Urbanism, which led the push for the rule changes.
But the push for home rule really took off in places drilling may never happen--near Ithaca and Cooperstown, where gas shale deposits are unpromising.
At the same time, the petition, and the push for SEC disclosure rules in this area, has attracted opponents, including legal academics, prominent members of Congress, and the Wall Street Journal's editorial page.
