Never happen.
First, this petition merely takes the bill out of committee and opens it for debate.
Second, it has to be passed by both House and Senate.
Third, it has to pass through the House/Senate conference committee.
Fourth, it has to be signed by W.
Fifth, it has to survive the inevitable lower court challenges, which likely will place an injunction on the enactment of the law.
Finally, it has to survive the Supremes (if it gets that far).
There are too many difficulties associated even with getting it passed in both houses, much less surviving the conference committee with teeth intact, for me to get too worked up about it.
There isn't a commentator around today that has managed to add up what this Discharge Petition is all about - and what is IS all about is finding a way to tie Enron to the Bush Administration when all other avenues have failed.
The DemoRATS have finally figured out - once the media flat out told them, "Guys, you're marking the wrong tree, here. The Bush Administration didn't have a thing to do with Enron." - that the ONLY way they could POSSIBLY get any traction in their attempts to paint Dubya with the Enron brush is to resurrect CFR, using snide innuendos about "especially at THIS time..." and so forth. They are positively giddy --- for the third time. And it will be delightful to see them shot down --- for the third time.
In fact, there may be SOME in the DemoCRAT leadership who might quietly acknowledge that CFR will, ultimately, NEVER make it into law. BUT, it gives the DemRATS a mechanism to sustain their wheezing assertions that Dubya is somehow responsible with Enron. There's a MAMMOTH risk involved. The risk is that people are ALREADY getting tired of "Enron." They'll be sick of it - sick to death - in another month if the DemRATS keep banging away at it. It just doesn't touch enough people.
Michael