Tag Archives: senate bill

Weekly Diaspora: Evangelicals Unexpected Allies for Immigration Reform

by Annie Shields, Media Consortium bloggerWith only a week remaining before Arizona’s contentious Senate Bill 1070 becomes law, Arizona human and immigrant rights groups have found unlikely allies among the religious community.More… Continue reading

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Obama Weekly Address: President Slams Republicans For Blocking Progress In Congress (VIDEO)

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama accused Republicans on Saturday of blocking legislation that would boost the nation’s economic recovery and lift a $75 million cap on what oil companies must pay to families and small businesses affected by an o… Continue reading

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AZ Law: Unconstitutional, Unsound, Ineffective and Un-American

Much has been said about Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070, allowing state law enforcement officials to stop, question, detain and report individuals based on suspicion of undocumented status. Outrage against this bill is pervasive. Some say it hearkens back … Continue reading

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Auto Dealers Stalled: Senate Chooses to Invest in Families

Last night’s passage of the “Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010″ (S. 3217) in the Senate was remarkable for many reasons, but what may be most remarkable is what’s not in the bill: an exemption from accountability for auto dealers. Despite the fact that auto dealers act as lenders that broker and structure the terms of the car loans they sell, they shamelessly pelted the Senate with demands to be excluded from the oversight and accountability to be delivered by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Civil rights, consumer, labor, and public interest groups banded together with military family organizations, credit unions, and community banks in opposition to this special interest carve-out. The pressure worked. Senator Brownback’s (R-KS) amendment to create a loophole for auto dealers never came to a vote. As it stands in the Senate bill, auto dealers will be held to the same standards as the banks and credit unions they compete against for auto financing business.

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Keep May Day Going: LGBT People Must Stand Ip for Immigrants’ Rights

I’m still feeling the rush from seeing 500,000 people take to the streets over the weekend for May Day, calling for reform to our immigration system. Our energy and advocacy are needed now more than ever.

Like many others, I am appalled at Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070, which allows law enforcement to demand that anyone suspected of being an illegal immigrant show their immigration papers on the spot. This bill threatens the well-being, dignity and livelihood of immigrants and their families. It will certainly lead to racial profiling, as it opens up the door for the police to terrorize racial and ethnic minorities for simply “appearing” to an officer’s individual judgment and suspicion to be an undocumented immigrant.

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Colorado Is Ground Zero

Over the next 10 days or so, Colorado will sit dead center in the debate over how to improve public education in this country. Senate Bill 10-191, which would make significant changes to teacher tenure and teacher evaluation in Colorado, will make its way–or fail to–through the Colorado House of Representatives beginning this week. It has already passed the Senate.

A Florida bill with some similarities to SB 10-191 (but much harsher changes to tenure) was vetoed last month by Gov. Charlie Crist, earning him a lifetime’s exile from the Republican Party. Now the National Education Association is turning its heavy guns on Colorado, hoping to bury state Sen. Mike Johnston’s bill before it becomes law.

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Arizona Worsens Issue of Immigration for Playing Enforcer of Federal Matters

Phoenix, Arizona. April 27, 2010 – Some people from Arizona, or those who have lived here for quite a while, may be appalled but not surprised about the dramatic turn the volatile issue of immigration has taken in this state during the last few days.

The passage of Senate Bill 1070, signed into law on Friday, April 23, 2010 by Governor Janice Brewer, could be only considered the straw that broke the camel’s back, since Arizona’s legislators have been implementing similar laws for at least the last 15 years.

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Republicans Begin Strategic Retreat on Bill to Hold Wall Street Accountable

Yesterday, Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley signaled the beginning of strategic retreat by Republicans on the Senate bill to hold the Wall Street Banks accountable. He broke ranks with his party in the Agriculture Committee to support the Democratic measure to impose new regulations and transparency on the derivatives markets that were ground zero in the financial collapse that cost eight million Americans their jobs.

At the same time Republican leader Mitch McConnell made a major strategic shift, saying that Republicans now wanted to “improve” the bill – not kill it outright.

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Why I Decided to Challenge Bart Stupak in the Democratic Primary

I believe passionately that Americans deserve the opportunity to have affordable, accessible healthcare, and until recently, I believed that Congressman Bart Stupak represented my beliefs in Washington. But when Mr. Stupak threatened to block reform unless the amendment bearing ‘his name’ was included in the bill, I was furious. He crossed the line. He broke his word to his constituents that he would not block healthcare reform over this issue. He lost his district’s trust, and he lost my trust.

His argument that the Stupak Amendment was necessary to prohibit federal funding for abortion is misleading. The Senate bill already included that provision. Mr. Stupak risked derailing the core vision of the Democratic Party, he let down his constituents in the 1st Congressional District, and he no longer deserves to be our Representative. Like so many others, I waited for someone to challenge him. But when no one did, I decided it was time to stand up, and I announced my candidacy.

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Democrats Won’t Use Controversial ‘Deem And Pass’ Measure To Enact Health Reform

Two Democratic lawmakers tell the Huffington Post that the party will not use the controversial measure known as deem and pass to get health care into law.

Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) said the House will vote on the Senate bill first before it considered a separate package of reconciliation changes. Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) confirmed.

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