Anti-’Czar’ Legislation Loses Democratic Co-Sponsor

I’ve been tracking the progress of Rep. Jack Kingston’s (R-Ga.) Czar Accountability and Reform (CZAR) Act of 2009, the legislation that would kill the salaries of Obama appointees not confirmed by the Senate. As of today, Kingston has found 116 co-sponsors, including Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the party’s whip, and Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), the party’s likely candidate in the 2010 U.S. Senate race in Illinois. But he has lost his only Democratic co-sponsor, Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-Mo.).

I asked Clay’s spokesman why the congressman had switched positions; he wasn’t immediately sure. But it might not matter for the anti-czar crusade, as Sen. Russ Feingold’s (D-Wis.) hearing on the issue provided all the bipartisan cover they could have asked for.