After months of negotiations, 8 key senators today proposed a sweeping and historic reform of our nation’s broken immigration system. The plan, which was previewed today in news reports, will be officially unveiled soon by the so-called “Gang of 8″ Republican and Democratic senators.
The proposal comes on the same day as a new poll that found that an overwhelming 84 percent of Americans — including 79 percent of Republicans — favor the kind of pathway to earned citizenship detailed in the proposal.
Reforming our broken system and bringing 11 MILLION people out of the shadows is the morally correct thing to do, but it’s also the economically smart thing to do:
BOTTOM LINE: No matter how much spin and vitriol conservatives throw at the immigration reform bill over the next few months, it’s still the right thing to do for our country and for our economy.
Evening Brief: Important Stories That You Might’ve Missed
Well, if the Todd Akin mess has shown anything, it’s that any talk of abortion restrictions being passed in the name of “protecting” or “helping” women is just that.
There is nothing helpful about forced pregnancy and birth, yet that is the precise position of the Republican party. And as if Akin’s statements that rape exceptions are not needed in abortion bans because women don’t get pregnant in the case of “legitimate” rape weren’t bad enough, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) made the case that Republicans don’t believe statutory rape is legitimate rape.
As Talking Points Memo reports, King told an Iowa reporter he’s never heard of a child getting pregnant from statutory rape or incest.
“Well I just haven’t heard of that being a circumstance that’s been brought to me in any personal way,” King told KMEG-TV Monday, “and I’d be open to discussion about that subject matter.”
By Akin’s logic, a logic shared by Mike Huckabee, Steve King, Ron Paul and countless others in the Republican party, this lack of evidence of conception means that an exception to an abortion ban in the cases of statutory rape are not needed.
A 1996 report by the Guttmacher Institute found that at least half of all babies born to minor women are fathered by adult men.
That, by definition, is childbirth as a result of statutory rape. But most importantly is the big picture here. These are not isolated, unhinged comments by the fringe of the Republican party. This is their platform.
Romney’s Medicare Madness Explained in 143 Seconds
Earlier today, Mitt Romney held a surprise press conference and, even more surprisingly, busted out a white board and attempted to explain his tortured position on Medicare.
We decided to pull out our own whiteboard and give you the facts. Watch ThinkProgress’ Igor Volsky break things down:
And here’s a handy infographic showing how the Romney campaign has been all over the map on Medicare since naming Paul Ryan as Romney’s running mate:
The changing rhetoric also presents serious policy problems. Romney’s implied policy of steering clear of Medicare reductions would greatly complicate his goal of reducing all federal spending from 24 percent of the GDP to 20 percent by 2016, which would require unsustainable cuts to other government programs. His specific promise to restore the $716 billion will also backfire and shorten the life of the Medicare trust fund “toward the end of what would be his first term in office.” The campaign has not yet specified how it would extend its solvency.
BOTTOM LINE: No matter how hard they tried, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan can’t wipe away their plan to turn Medicare into a voucher plan that will increase seniors’ health care costs by thousands of dollars each year.
Evening Brief: Important Stories That You May Have Missed
New Romney Plan: Make Medicare Insolvent by 2016 Yesterday, we discussed the Romney campaign’s attempt to distract from the Romney-Ryan plan to end Medicare as we know it and replace it with a voucher system that will increase seniors’ health care costs by thousands of dollars. The Romney campaign was also under fire for attacking [...]
The Romney-Ryan Plan to Cut & Then End Medicare Having picked the architect of the Republican plan to end Medicare as we know it as his running mate, Mitt Romney and his “I am rubber, you’re glue” campaign is now trying to paint President Obama as the real threat to seniors’ health care and economic [...]
Meet Mitt Romney’s Radical VP Choice On Saturday, Mitt Romney showed once again that he’s unable or unwilling to stand up to the most extreme voices in his party. He picked Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), architect of “the most extreme budget plan passed by a house of Congress in modern times,” as his running mate. [...]
Why Title IX Is So Important In honor of the U.S. women’s soccer team’s amazing gold medal performance at the Olympics, we thought it would be important to revisit one of the policies that helped make it possible: Title IX. ThinkProgress’ Travis Waldron, who writes a weekly sports column on Alyssa Rosenberg’s culture blog, offers [...]
Last Friday, Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) announced that Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-CA) would head the Immigration Subcommittee — a position that had been expected to go to Rep. Steve King (R-IA), the ranking Republican of the subcommittee last year. King didn’t take the news too well. Just a few hours after finding out, King told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren that not assigning him as head of the subcommittee “makes a difference on the effectiveness [of the subcommittee], and it clearly does.” King also attackedHouse SpeakerJohn Boehner (R-OH), stating, “The speaker holds the big gavel, and he decides who gets the other gavels…John Boehner isn’t very aggressive on immigration.” However, while it’s true that Boehner isn’t traditionally counted amongst the House’s immigration hawks, Gallegly’s appointment doesn’t present a radical change of course in terms of the 2011 immigration agenda. With or without King, it is going to be a tough year for immigrants.
HOUSE MAKE-UP: As chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Smith oversees all immigration issues. Described as a lawmaker who is “less interested in getting in the spotlight and more interested in driving immigrants out of the country,” Smith will undoubtedly use his leadership position to push through his anti-immigrant agenda. Appointing Gallegly chairman of the Immigration Subcommittee does not represent a deviation from that course. Gallegly has maintained a much lower public profile on immigration than King has in recent years. Yet, as far as their actual policy positions go, King and Gallegly have a lot in common. The anti-immigrant group NumbersUSA gives bothlawmakers an “A” grade for exhibiting a commitment to legislation aimed at lowering both legal and illegal immigration over the course of their careers. The organization’s website shows that, like King, Gallegly has been at the forefront of the effort to deny the U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants citizenship and has joined King in co-sponsoring several bills aimed at blocking any legalization programs and establishing ramped-up interior enforcement mechanisms. In 2004, Gallegly co-sponsored a bill that would have essentially required hospitals to check the immigration status of patients. As far back as 1991, Gallegly was already railing against the 14th Amendment. Back in 1996, he introduced an amendment to the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act which would have overturned the Plyler v. Doe Supreme Court decision and allowed states to deny public education or charge tuition to undocumented children. It passed the House but was removed from the final bill. Meanwhile, Rep. Peter King (R-NY), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, is another immigration hardliner who wi ll exert considerable power over the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which his committee oversees.
CONGRESSIONAL AGENDA: Though the White House and Democrats remain committed to passing immigration reform, President Obama and Latino lawmakers agreed in a recent meeting that “a more realistic goal” would be to “stave off” anti-immigrant legislation emerging from the House. Obama has promised to veto “certain punitive legislation if need be.” Obama’s veto power might come in handy. One of Smith’s main priorities seems to be pushing the Obama administration to ramp-up worksite enforcement and revive the widely condemned immigration raids of the Bush era and expand the error-ridden federal electronic employment verification system, E-Verify. “Worksite enforcement efforts have fallen dramatically s ince President Obama took office,” complained Smith on his website. “That means it is easier for illegal immigrants to keep jobs that rightly belong to U.S. citizens.” Though Smith has indicated that the first few months of 2011 would not be focused on the 14th Amendment’s citizenship provision, it will likely come up at some point during his term given the fact that he has been credited by his supporters with “lead[ing] the charge behind H.R. 1868, the Birthright Citizenship Act of 2009.” Steve King has already introduced similar legislation for consideration this year. Another bill Smith co-sponsored that might come up would declare that state and local law enforcement have inherent authority to enforce civil immigration laws. Such a measure would likely invalidate the argument that Arizona’s immigration law is preempted by federal law. A rumor on right-wing websites suggests that Smith is also interested in introducing a bill called the “HALT Act” which is supposedly “designed to prevent President Obama and his administration from granting de facto amnesties.” The Obama administration isn’t poised to grant any “amnesties,” although the New York Times did report that, despite ramped-up deportations, DHS is “sparing” undocumented students who were brought to the U.S. when they were young. Over at the Homeland Security Committee, Peter King has vowed to aggressively crack down on private companies that hire undocumented immigrants and increase federal support for local police to enforce immigration law.
A STATE ISSUE: While the Democrat-controlled Senate will be able to block many of the House’s anti-immigrant initiatives, the real immigration battleground in 2011 will be in the slough of states that are poised to take up bills similar to the draconian immigration law passed by Arizona in 2010, including Mississippi, Florida, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina. In Georgia, new Gov. Nathan Deal (R) has already indicated that he’ll sign off on an Arizona copycat law, along with another bill which would bar undocumented immigrants from attending all government universities. In November, Texas state Rep. Debbie Riddle (R) literally camped out on folding chairs outside the floor of the Texas House of Representatives to be the first in line to file her Arizona copycat bill. Kentucky Senate Republicans have bragged that their bill goes even further than Arizona’s. In Virginia, Prince William County Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart (R) plans on forging ahead with the “Virginia Rule of Law” despite the fact that even the state’s far-right Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli released a stinging analysis that called several provisions “unconstitutional” and “unnecessary.” Last week, state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-PA) joined several state legislators from across the nation to unveil what they described as the “next nationwide initiative to halt the misapplication of the 14th amendment.” In other words, the lawmakers presented a plan to introduce state legislation which would reinterpret the 14th amendment’s language in a way that would prevent the U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants from being conferred citizenship upon birth. The effort will likely start in Arizona where state Sen. Russell Pearce (R) also wants to introduce legislation that would require undocumented immigrant parents to pay tuition in order for their children to attend public schools in Arizona. However, an upcoming Supreme Court decision in U.S. Chamber of Commerce v. Candelaria along with the ongoing Department of Justice lawsuit against Arizona will ultimately provide more guidance in terms of how much control states can exert over immigration.
Sunday buzzzzzz … rain and more rain …in fact a whole lot of flooding and leaks going on here in the 206.
So far December has been busy, bothersome and …beyond the pale in some respects because since the midterms and the voters taking a hard right without having what i feel is all the right information are now seeing the really bad reasoning for voting and giving the Republican Tea Party so much power. I do not understand putting the same people in power that got us into this economical ditch and it’s looking like a possible abyss might be coming. The Democratic Party along with most if not all progressives on radio and cable seemed to have waged a war on President Obama, I will not join in on this witch hunt or party cleansing that some seem to be engaging in.
I will say that President Obama has shown himself to be the only grown up in the room negotiated a deal that has crap in it yet seemingly had to be done. I get it the Party is pissed he did it without them -get over it because y’all had your shot and did not get it done. If this deal can be changed then so be it but it is in my opinion a huge stimulus 2.0 with a couple of bad items, hopefully there are some in the Republican Tea Party that will shame their own to do what is right for All Americans. It is with great sadness to know that some of our own democratic representatives have been calling my President some nasty names at the very least. These same so-called progressives are using their platforms that reach out to millions with angry faces spewing vitriol at and about a man who decided to run for office knowing what was going on with our economy anyway. I voted for the best possible candidate not because he is Black contrary to what people like Ed Shultz feels about the African American voter. I will say Ethnic families now have proof that a person of colour cannot just announce, talk, and or run for President but they can get into the game and compete. President Obama has proved not only that he was competent but also quite possibly above, beyond and ahead of his time. I am proud that most of our family can share this Presidency though our parents passed, they lived and fought for his right for equal opportunities. My parents lived through the ugly days of not just Jim crow but saw their parents face questions regarding race and interracial relationships – some forced, others inevitable and others were definitely complicit with lots of love, my parents and grandparents would be proud of President Obama.
I received several emails with an urgency to jump on the wagon to fight President Obama’s new tax deal. I honestly have not heard enough that would make me sign a petition stating my President is wrong, loony or just does not know what he is doing. I have yet to hear the facts of just exactly what would they do if Democrats in Congress fail to make sure that UI benefits are going to be reinstated or that the 99ers will be taken care of and how about $250 dollars for Seniors and that is just a start.
I am not torn by the decision to stand with our Presidents decision to compromise because i truly do not believe our President wanted to sell out Americans and boy does this prove he isn’t a Socialist either right, i mean can beck, limbaugh and other stop talking that trash from now on. We all know the RTP stalled, blocked, scaled down, and said no to just about every bill meant to help America get back on track. The RTP even inserted porn, Viagra and other foul things as Amendments to make it harder for everyone to vote yes -this was truly an un-American move when we are in a crisis Mitch McConnell and his comrades chose to play dirty politics over working for the people of America. It is disturbing, maybe not so surprising that people on both sides of the aisle are still pointing fingers and blaming President Obama for the lack of improvement in our economy. The amnesia folks seem to be surrounding themselves in is nutty. We all need to be reminded that were several bills in the Senate, a Jobs bill for example that was once 85million was scaled down to 15million because of the 60vote rule and a definite lack of cohesion in the Democratic Party. We were once the majority party with members who voted as they seemed or felt fit unlike Republicans who unite on most issues no matter or if the greater good is the obvious choice. Yet, decided to hold Americans, legislation and the Middle Class hostage, which is odd because anyone with kids tries to teach the need for compromise. I do not know any parent who could get through the day without teaching their kids to know when to compromise. I have been wondering for 20 months what does the lack of compromise say about the Republican Tea Party and now I wonder about my own Political Party. Have we all forgotten what Senator Barack Obama said … Our economy would get worse before it got better; so true and if you watched the goings on in Congress everyone in both Chambers seemed too worried, too anxious about yep the midterms. I felt incredibly short changed by all the hype all the voting and running our representatives did opposed to well getting things done and choosing to wait until after the midterms saying we have time. I blame our Democratic Party for a lot because they create, make, and pass the laws the President does not and people need to remember that. Contrary to what I have been hearing, I do not think our President is trying to outsmart anyone. I do feel he has the people of America on his mind while our own are willing to opt out and fight the Bush Bonus dollars. The deal may not be acceptable to my party but given the fact that we only have three weeks this might be as good as it gets. I hope folks will not forget that there was time before the midterms but they waited and waited now my own party has people like Anthony Wiener going on the cables and tv knocking the agreement, our President have wasted so much time when there is so much to do before. I was offended by what seems like WMD being thrown at my President by the likes of ed Shultz let alone his comment that implied the only reason for the continued support of President Obama is because we are Black People having an emotional connection or tie to this President -first i was offended. Now, I say damn straight we are emotionally tied because if i did not know any better i would say Jim crow was back maybe just more overt and in full effect in some cities in our country today.
“The new Jim Crow”: a book by Michelle Alexander is a revelation and after watching, the ranting of Rep.Steve King it made me wants to post his behavior on Congress floor and recommend the book.
Below you will find videos from Political Articles and the YTY. I ask myself everyday when people will agree that this kind of behavior is unacceptable on the floor of Congress, it makes me question whom does Rep.Steve King represent exactly anyway, the transcript and video is below:
REP. STEVE KING (R), IOWA: Figure this out, Madam Speaker. We have a very, very urban Senator Barack Obama who has decided to run for president, and what does he do? He introduces legislation to create a whole new Pigford claim.
COOPER: Congressman King did not point out then-Senator Obama was representing the state of Illinois, some 80 percent of which is made up of farmland.
The congressman went to equate these payments with slave reparations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KING: We have got to stand up at some point and say, we’re not going to pay slavery reparations in the United States Congress. That war’s been fought. That was over a century ago. That debt was paid for in blood, and it was paid for in the blood of a lot of Yankees especially.
And there’s no reparations for the blood that paid for the sin of slavery. No one’s filing that claim.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, just for the record, President Obama is on the record as opposing reparations for slavery, said it several times. I asked him even about it during a CNN/YouTube presidential debate three years ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, JULY 2007)
COOPER: Senator Obama, your position on reparations?
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think the reparations we need right here in South Carolina is investment, for example, in our schools. That’s the kind of reparations that are really going to make a difference in America right now.
COOPER: Is anyone — is any…
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: So, point one, President Obama’s not for reparations. But the president’s motivations aside, though, what about Congress — Congressman King’s claim that the first phase of the Pigford settlement was full of fraud?
He says 94,000 people have submitted claims, but only 18,000 African-American farmers could have qualified, and that the vast majority of those claims were fraudulent.
Here’s what he said Monday night about a federal claims processor he talked to.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KING: One of those individuals — and I have had anecdotes from several, but one of those individuals felt the burden of the corruption and the fraudulent claims that were coming forward in front of him, that he copied a box of applications, a literal box of applications, which I’m really sure that would not have been very constructive to him maintaining his job with the USDA.
But it bothered his conscience so much. And when he came back to Iowa, he wanted to make it a point to make sure that I knew that these applications that he was dealing with, were, he believed, a minimum of 75 percent fraudulent — 75 percent fraudulent.
Now, if you just apply that to the $1.05 billion in claims that were paid out, if he’s right in that number, $750 million were wasted paying people that didn’t have it coming.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Seven hundred and fifty million dollars out of $1 billion wasted, according to the congressman.
Now, if true, obviously, it’s a shocking amount of fraud. But he gets that figure by extrapolating from, at most, several people. We asked the USDA. They gave us this statement.
“All allegations,” they say, “were forwarded to the OIG” — that’s the Office of the Inspector General — “who in turn referred them to the FBI.” It goes on to say, “The FBI prosecuted a total of three individuals. With approximately 20,000 claimants, three prosecutions means that 0.015 percent of the claimants were determined by the FBI to be serious enough to merit prosecution.”
Congressman — Congressman King also says that there have been more than — more claims than possible farmers. The USDA says, in a nutshell, that, in the 15 years covered by the current bill, farms changed hands. So, according to the department, the 44,000 African- American farmers in 1996 were not all the same farmers in 1981, hence the additional claims, and that many farmers were driven out of business by discrimination.
The biggest surprise and or thriller of the month are the Cascio family who made a guest appearance on the Oprah show spoke and showed proof of their friendship with videos of them with MJ together. That was surprising enough but then we find out that an album produced by the family i guess with some new songs and videos of them with MJ – wow incredible! I am definitely one of those who are suspicious especially when his own family did not seem to know about the release let alone hearing that Sony might be apart of this is worrisome because of the conflict MJ had with Sony. i have no problem believing it is him but it is just odd to release studio music as an album- it had to be pieced together right? because studio music is never the sum product and because he is such perfectionist it just seems like it would not be acceptable. I must say teddy riley is suspicious to me as well but then any attachment to Sony is questionable and offensive but that is just me. I do not know the truth but my opinion is strong deep and sad knowing the anger as well as the conflicts between Sony and MJ were made public by him so it just seems all about the money.
I am still upset with the MJ doctor who seems guilty to me and who with some odd behavior from his staff are still walking around free. The fact that a doctor would choose not to have proper medical equipment at a house in which he provided a service albeit questionable have yet to be subjected to the rule of law is odd. The latest information in the news is that “the needles have not been tested yet,” I am no expert maybe whatever is on those needles will not evaporate but why take that risk and what will it take for his family to push for the testing to happen.
I would like to know why this family waited until MJ died to put this studio thing out and again feel the revenues belong to MJ’s kids.
Last month, Republican Senate candidate Joe Miller said that Republicans must have the “courage to shut down the government.” Republican Congressman Steve King recently demanded a “blood oath” from House Minority LeaderJohn Boehner to ensure the full repeal of health care reform — even if it means shutting the government down.
And former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, mastermind of the disastrous government shutdowns of the 1990s, has been crowing about a potential shutdown for months.
For Republicans, what once seemed radical is now wholly in the mainstream.
Even worse, they are pulling in huge donations from special interests who are comfortable with a shutdown that hurts the American people — so long as it gets them what they want.
We won’t stand by and watch this happen — and that’s why we’re growing the By the People Fund.
Grassroots Democrats have given 2.9 million donations to show that our voices won’t be drowned out by special-interest donations to fuel a special-interests agenda. Now we need to keep up the pace to reach our goal of 3 million individual donations — we need 20,000 contributors this week to hit the mark.
All around the country this fall, Republicans are trying to convince voters to hire them for a job. But they keep saying that one of the first items on their agenda would be to go on strike.
A government shutdown would cut off the programs, benefits, and services relied upon by millions of seniors, veterans, and families around the country. Veterans’ hospitals would be closed; Social Security checks would not go out.
This is the political equivalent of a temper tantrum — and it hurts those who need help the most.
With just more than 40 days until the election, it’s time for us to step up.
We’ve got organizers on the ground in all 50 states, and we’re doubling down on efforts to register new voters and turn out the supporters who’ve helped us win all across the country.
The meaningful changes we’ve fought for and won have always been built on the energy and support of people like you.
So if you’ve been wondering when might be the best time to pitch in where you’re able, the time is now. And if you’re sick and tired of the notion that simply because Republicans are yelling louder, we are willing to go quietly — then it’s time for you to raise your voice.
I know that we can win this fall — but it’s going to take all of us.
Please donate $5 or more to the By the People Fund today:
Weekly Addresses
