Congress – Page 160 – immigrationcourtside.com

WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL: Betrayal! Ryan, GOP “Gift” To Wisconsin Seniors: Jacked Up Premiums, Suffering, Premature Death! I/O/W “Pay More For Less”

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/health-med-fit/report-wisconsin-s-older-adults-would-pay-thousands-more-under/article_9fdb9c69-1339-5c33-9c77-0bf868071cde.html#utm_source=host.madison.com&utm_campaign=/email/&utm_medium=email&utm_content=26CD42536544E247751EC74095D9CEDC67E77EDB

David Wahlberg reports:

“In Madison, a 64-year-old currently pays $1,852 a year through “Obamacare” after receiving $5,991 in tax credits, according to a Citizen Action of Wisconsin report released Tuesday.

Under the Republican plan, the same person would pay $7,764 a year in premiums after $4,000 in tax credits. That is $5,912 — or more than three times — more, the report says.

Republicans’ proposed American Health Care Act, which the House is expected to vote on Thursday, would reduce tax credits for some groups and allow insurers to charge older adults more.

Those changes mean a 64-year-old in La Crosse would have net premiums of $14,515 a year, up from $1,519 now, the Citizen Action report says. That is $12,996 — or more than eight times — more.

The Republican plan would “result in people suffering and dying prematurely,” said Dr. Cynthia Haq, a professor of family medicine and population health sciences at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.

“People will have to forgo health insurance coverage,” Haq said. “They will not seek care. They will not get preventive services. They will not be able to manage their chronic diseases. As a result, they’ll show up in the emergency departments of hospitals in extreme crisis.”

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As I have said previously, it’s going to be a crowded field for “King of the Swamp” honors this year, but Ryan with his inane health care proposal — which even his own party is balking at from both ends of the spectrum — certainly has his eye on the title!

How many will have to suffer and die before the folks in his congressional district finally get him “off the dole” and give him a chance to make his way by doing something more productive in the “real world” that he so much admires yet has avoided for most of his adult life?

PWS

03/21/17

POLITICO: Congressional Opposition Grows To Administration’s Proposed Coast Guard Cuts!

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/senators-blast-trump-coast-guard-cuts-235838

Jeremy Herb reports:

“Nearly two dozen senators on Wednesday slammed the White House for proposing major cuts to the Coast Guard’s budget to help pay for President Donald Trump’s border wall and stepped-up immigration enforcement.

“We urge you to restore the $1.3 billion cut to the Coast Guard budget, which we firmly believe would result in catastrophic negative impacts to the Coast Guard and its critical role in protecting our homeland, our economy and our environment,” write 23 senators, led by Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), to OMB Director Mick Mulvaney.
They warned the cuts “would directly contradict the priorities articulated by the Trump administration, in particular the priorities regarding enhanced maritime security needs and desire to invest in our national security.”

In draft budget documents first reported by POLITICO, the Coast Guard’s budget for fiscal 2018 would be reduced 14 percent to $7.8 billion, while the TSA and FEMA would both see drops of more than 10 percent.

The cuts would help fund Trump’s immigration crackdown, including more than $1.9 billion for Trump’s border wall, $915 million for border surveillance technology and $285 million for the first tranche of new Customs and Border Patrol agents and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

Hardest hit would be the Coast Guard’s budget for new helicopters, vessels and other equipment, including the cancellation of a new national security cutter, the Coast Guard’s largest ship class.

The senators — 20 Democrats and three Republicans — argue that the Coast Guard’s acquisition of the cutter and new polar icebreakers should not be sacrificed given its major role in drug interdiction efforts and port security.”

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See my previous post on the proposed cuts to the Coast Guard here:

http://wp.me/p8eeJm-sd

In addition to the other nice things I said about the Coast Guard, as all of us who have spent time in small vessels on the ocean know, the brave men and women of our Coast Guard save lives and enforce important safety rules that protect all of us!

PWS

03/08/17

WashPost OPINION: Bipartisan Duo Of Prosecutors Sets Forth Case Against Sessions — Cites Kleindienst Example — Meanwhile, See Kate McKinnon As Jeff Sessions On SNL!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/federal-prosecutors-have-brought-charges-in-cases-far-less-serious-than-sessionss/2017/03/03/d4345396-003d-11e7-8ebe-6e0dbe4f2bca_story.html

Philip Lacovara and Lawrence Robbins write in the Washington Post:

“Attorney General Jeff Sessions made a seemingly false statement under oath during his confirmation hearing. Admittedly, not every potential perjury case gets prosecuted, and Sessions may well have defenses to such a charge. But as lawyers at the Justice Department and attorneys in private practice who have represented individuals accused in such cases, we can state with assurance: Federal prosecutors have brought charges in cases involving far more trivial misstatements and situations far less consequential than whether a nominee to be the nation’s chief law enforcement officer misled fellow senators during his confirmation hearings.

. . . .

Certainly there is precedent for a prosecution in this context. Part of the fallout from Watergate included the special prosecutor’s investigation of Richard Kleindienst, who had resigned from his position as attorney general, for alleged false statements during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Kleindienst was asked whether the White House had interfered with a Justice Department antitrust action against the International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation. He stated, “I was not interfered with by anybody at the White House” — but President Nixon and one of his top aides had each called Kleindienst regarding the case. Kleindienst pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge for “refus[ing] and fail[ing] to answer accurately and fully” questions at a congressional hearing.

Those facts left no room for any colorable defense on the “knowledge” issue. But when Justice Department officials decide whether to bring a case against Sessions — or, more appropriately, when an independent counsel is appointed and resolves that question — this must be done against the backdrop of other perjury cases that the department has chosen over the years to bring. And the department has prosecuted individuals who advanced defenses very similar to Sessions’s arguments here, often where there was far less at stake.”

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Read the full piece at the link:

And, Here’s Kate McKinnon as Jeff Sessions on SNL from Saturday, March 4:

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/jeff-sessions-gump-cold-open/3480395

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PWS

03/06/17

President Trump Takes Very Nuanced Approach To DACA Retention — See The Video Clip From CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/21/politics/dhs-immigration-guidance-detentions/index.html

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In the above video clip, President Trump takes a (perhaps surprisingly) very nuanced approach to the DACA kids. He realizes that most of them are wonderful and will do great things for America. He also sees the parallel with his own children and grandchildren.

I was encouraged that he appears to be listening to his own “better angels” here, rather than just to some of the “immigration hard-liners” surrounding him at the White House. And, he very correctly points out that one of the things he must do is sell his solution to Congress, including many members of his own party who might be skeptics.

Don’t know how this eventually will play out. But, overall, this shows a reflective side of the President that we don’t often see showcased or tweeted. Well worth the couple of minutes it takes to view.

PWS

02/21/17

HuffPost: AG Sessions Faces First Crisis — And It Isn’t Immigration!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sessions-flynn-trump-investigation-russia_us_58a3ac76e4b03df370db99e1?q74cewg9me0q6ko6r&&

Jessica Schulberg & Ryan J. Reilly Report on HuffPost:

“WASHINGTON ― Less than a week on the job as U.S. attorney general, Jeff Sessions faces a potentially explosive situation: He was a top adviser to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, but he’s now overseeing the agency investigating members of that campaign.

The FBI, which falls under the umbrella of Sessions’ Justice Department, is leading a multi-agency probe of possible connections between Trump associates and the Russian government. Law enforcement and intelligence officials have phone records and intercepted calls that show members of Trump’s campaign repeatedly communicated with senior Russian intelligence officials in the months before the election, the New York Times reported Tuesday. Sessions has ties to at least two of the people who are reportedly under investigation.

The FBI is also separately examining intercepted communications between the Russian ambassador to the U.S. and former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who served with Sessions as a member of the Trump campaign’s national security advisory council. The FBI interviewed Flynn days into the Trump presidency, according to The New York Times, and reportedly had concerns about whether he was entirely forthcoming. Lying to the FBI is a felony. If the FBI investigation into Flynn’s conduct turns up wrongdoing, Sessions could be responsible for signing off on the prosecution.

Flynn, who resigned as national security adviser on Monday, denies intentionally mischaracterizing his conversations with the Russian ambassador. The incident, he said in his resignation letter, was due to the “fast pace of events.”

Investigators are also reportedly looking into Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, whom Sessions has known since the 1970s and communicated with frequently during the campaign. Manafort said in an email that he has never been contacted by the FBI and that he has never had any connection to Putin or the Russian government. He gave a similar statement to The New York Times but added, “It’s not like these people wear badges that say, ‘I’m a Russian intelligence officer.’”

Former foreign policy adviser Carter Page and Republican operative Roger Stone are also under scrutiny, The New York Times reported.

The FBI applied for a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court last year to monitor several members of the Trump team as part of its investigation, The Guardian reported in January. If the FBI wanted to request another FISA warrant to monitor those individuals, it would likely have to get approval from Sessions.”

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PWS

02/15/17

BREAKING: Labor Pick Puzder Flames Out!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/andy-puzder-goes-down_us_58a4a8bce4b094a129f176f4?

HuffPost reports:

“The White House is expected to withdraw Andy Puzder’s nomination as labor secretary on Wednesday, according to multiple reports. He is the first of President Donald Trump’s nominees to not make it through the confirmation process.

The move came as support evaporated among Republicans for the former fast-food executive. At least seven Republican senators refused to publicly back the former chief executive of CKE Restaurants, which owns the burger chains Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, as criticism mounted over his hefty stack of labor violations and long-standing support for increased immigration.”

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PWS

02/15/17

The U.S. Immigration Court’s Vision Is All About Best Practices, Guaranteeing Fairness, And Due Process — 7th Circuit’s Judge Posner Thinks It’s A “Farce” — Blames Congressional Underfunding!

https://www.lexisnexis.com/legalnewsroom/immigration/b/insidenews/archive/2016/12/31/let-39-s-close-out-2016-with-a-posner-dissent-chavarria-reyes-v-lynch.aspx?Redirected=true

“POSNER, Circuit Judge, dissenting. This case involves a typical botch by an immigration judge. No surprise: the Im‐ migration Court, though lodged in the Justice Department, is the least competent federal agency, though in fairness it may well owe its dismal status to its severe underfunding by Congress, which has resulted in a shortage of immigration judges that has subjected them to crushing workloads. See, e.g., Julia Preston, “Deluged Immigration Courts, Where Cases Stall for Years, Begin to Buckle,” NY Times, Dec. 1, 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/12/01/us/deluged‐immigratio n‐courts‐where‐cases‐stall‐for‐years‐begin‐to‐buckle.html?_r =0 (visited Dec. 30, 2016).”

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Go on over to Dan Kowalski on LexisNexis Immigration Community and read the full opinion and Judge P’s full dissent in Chavarria-Reyes v. Lynch.

Also, read Julia Preston’s article in the NY Times, cited by Judge Posner, quoting (and picturing) me here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/01/us/deluged-immigration-courts-where-cases-stall-for-years-begin-to-buckle.html

PWS

01/02/17

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