Taking that backdoor approach to immigration, which wouldn’t require a single GOP vote, could cast a chill over any future attempts at bipartisan reform. But those bipartisan talks have stalled out in the Senate after nearly a dozen meetings, and Democrats have perhaps their only opportunity at going around Republicans on the issue.
Though a long way short of a comprehensive overhaul, Congress’s fiercest immigration advocates are embracing it.
“We have had an every-which-way approach to immigration reform,” said Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.), who leads the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and began pushing for the idea in January. “This is currently our best effort.”
Some Democrats are more blunt in private, saying they believe the current strategy is their only chance to enact meaningful immigration changes this Congress. But there’s no guarantee it will work, and there’s some skepticism in the Senate about what can actually be done.
The plan, still in the draft stage, would create a pathway to citizenship for certain undocumented groups, such as Dreamers who were brought to the U.S. as children and farmworkers already living here. Many Democrats, including the Hispanic Caucus, are also pushing for “essential workers,” including health workers during the pandemic, to receive green cards under the bill.
Success is still far from certain: Democrats don’t know whether the measure can survive the Senate’s obscure budget rules that would allow the bill to pass without GOP support. Democrats say they will go back and forth with the Senate parliamentarian, its nonpartisan rules referee, to push the breadth of immigration reform as far as it will go.
The parliamentarian vets whether provisions of a bill passed using the legislative power known as budget reconciliation can evade a GOP filibuster and pass with a simple majority. While immigration provisions have survived past parliamentary scrutiny, they did so while commanding significant bipartisan support. This will be different, with a strong partisan challenge from Senate Republicans. (The current parliamentarian, a former immigration lawyer, stripped out Democrats’ minimum wage hike in a coronavirus aid bill earlier this year.)
Already, Senate Republicans’ campaign arm is set to hammer Democrats if they go along with seeking a path to citizenship. And the Senate GOP is vowing to adamantly contest the tactic.
“It’s something that we would challenge,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who has been involved in the bipartisan talks. “There’s a legitimate question to be asked about whether it’s eligible for reconciliation.”
A powerful coalition of House Democrats has recently backed the gambit of tackling immigration through the budget, including leaders of the Progressive Caucus, the Hispanic Caucus and the Black Caucus. In the Senate, Majority Whip Dick Durbin, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) are among the strongest proponents.
Durbin confirmed this week that the party aims to put citizenship for some immigrants into the sprawling spending bill but cautioned that the “decision has not been made” concerning how many immigrants who fall under the Dreamers, farm workers and essential workers designations would get a pathway to citizenship.
While Democratic leaders haven’t revealed details about their precise plans, several lawmakers said the party will take a trial-and-error approach. One Democratic lawmaker involved said negotiators are still looking at which mix of policy changes would raise enough money to pay for other unrelated priorities in the sprawling spending package.
“I’m pretty confident,” Ruiz said, citing several studies about the policy’s economic impact, but he stressed that the goal was a measured approach that can satisfy the Senate budget rules. “We will be flexible and continue to push throughout the entire process and get as far as we can get.”
So far, the idea is attracting little resistance from Democrats, even with their threadbare margins in both chambers. House Democrats, which have struggled on broader immigration bills, have already unanimously backed a pathway to citizenship for those Dreamers, farmworkers and immigrants previously granted Temporary Protected Status, known as TPS. Another option is extending a path to citizenship for all TPS recipients.
But several Democrats caution that it will be trickier to reach consensus on the other group: “essential workers,” a label already spurring complex discussions about which employees count. One bill from Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) would open the door to citizenship for more than 5 million front-line workers across nearly 20 sectors, including janitors, nurses and farmworkers.
The bipartisan Senate group is “still at it, but if that doesn’t work then I think there is a strong demand by several of us to see immigration in reconciliation,” Menendez said.
Democrats argue there’s another reason to be more optimistic: This Congress wouldn’t be the first time lawmakers have tacked on immigration to a budget bill. Several lawmakers have pointed to a massive GOP-led bill in 2005 that included a measure to address a backlog of immigrant visas — which was allowed under the same arcane budget process but had much broader support from both parties.
“I do think the precedent is one thing we can look at to feel good,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who leads the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Jayapal, along with other progressive leaders, recently met with Schumer, Durbin and Menendez to help prep their party’s case on the issue.
Jayapal and others also argue that the Congressional Budget Office itself has shown thatmany of their preferred immigration changes will have a measurable impact on the budget.
But trying to add immigration to their budget bill is a big political risk for Democrats, who months ago watched their minimum wage hike fall to a rules judgment in the Senate. This time around lawmakers and advocates said they are taking a gentler lobbying approach, making sure not to look as if they are personally attacking the parliamentarian as they push for immigration reform to be included.
The outside pressure is undoubtedly high. Immigrant advocates argued this week that if Democrats do not succeed in passing a pathway to citizenship this year, they cannot depend on key Latino constituencies to turn out in 2022.
Sen. Mark Kelly’s (D-Ariz.) “reelection depends on” delivering a pathway to citizenship, said Lorella Praeli, co-president of Community Change Action, a progressive grassroots group.
Many young Latino voters who supported Democrats in high numbers in 2020 have undocumented family members, said Praeli, warning that “they have been hearing, ‘We’re going to get it done, you just got to vote for us!’ cycle after cycle. … And so at some point, that argument loses its potency.”
Kelly said on Thursday that the Senate needs to support young immigrants and farm workers but that he’d need to “look at the details” of whatever is proposed.
WASHINGTON – Attorney General William Barr has created a task force to investigate anti-government extremists that officials said were responsible for instigating violence and disrupting peaceful protests over the death of George Floyd.
Barr, in a memo Friday, said there is evidence that extremists belonging to the far-right “boogaloo” movement and those who identify as antifa, a loosely organized anti-fascist group, are responsible for some of the violence that marred protests across the country. Barr also said some of the extremists may have had some support from foreign entities, although he did not offer evidence.
“Although these extremists profess a variety of ideologies, they are united in their opposition to the core constitutional values of a democratic society governed by law,” Barr said.
Barr said the task force will obtain information about extremist groups, their networks and movements. “The ultimate goal of the task force will not be to enable prosecution of extremists who engage in violence, but to understand these groups well enough that we can stop such violence before it occurs and ultimately eliminate it as a threat to public safety and the rule of law.”
The Justice Department has charged a number of people in connection with violence that happened at protests. Earlier this month, federal authorities in Nevada charged three men associated with the “boogaloo” movement with conspiracy to cause destruction during demonstrations in Las Vegas.
Officials have offered no information linking suspects to antifa.
In an interview with NPR, Barr said investigators don’t arrest people for being a member of the far-left movement.
“We charge them for throwing a Molotov cocktail, or we charge them for possession of a gun, or possession of gasoline and things to make bombs with,” Barr said. “Those are the kinds of charges that are filed. Even less sensational charges, such as battery. But we are building, we are obtaining information and intelligence about the operations of these people.”
Barr tapped Craig Carpenito and Erin Nealy Cox, the chief federal prosecutors in New Jersey and in Texas’ northern district, respectively, to lead the task force.
Last week, Barr announced that Carpenito will serve as acting U.S. attorney in Manhattan following the resignation of Geoffrey Berman. But Berman refused to resign, creating an extraordinary clash over control of one of the Justice Department’s most prestigious offices. The standoff ended after Trump fired Berman. Barr then backtracked from his temporary appointment of Carpenito and allowed Berman’s deputy to take his place until a successor is confirmed by the Senate.
The head coach and six members of the University of the Southwest men’s and women’s golf teams were among nine people killed in a head-on vehicle crash in Texas, authorities said.
The crash occurred Tuesday night near Midland, Texas, and only two people aboard the college team’s van survived, according to a statement from the University of the Southwest in Hobbs, New Mexico.
The college confirmed that Tyler James, the head coach of both the men’s and women’s golf teams, was among those killed. The coach and his teams were returning home from a tournament in Midland when the crash occurred, according to the school’s statement.
“The USW campus community is shocked and saddened today as we mourn the loss of members of our university family,” school officials said in the statement to ABC affiliate station KMID in Midland.
The players who died were identified as Maurico Sanchez, 19, of Mexico; Travis Garcia, 19, of Pleasanton, Texas; Jackson Zinn, 22, of Westminster, Colorado; Karissa Raines, 21, of Fort Stockton, Texas; Laci Stone, 18, of Nocona, Texas; and Tiago Sousa, 18, of Portugal.
Two passengers in the team van who survived the wreck were in critical condition Wednesday at a hospital in Lubbock, Texas, the school’s statement said. They were later identified as 19-year-old Dayton Price of Mississauga, Ontario, and Hayden Underhill, 20, of Amherstview, Ontario.
“We would ask for prayers for their recovery and for comfort and strength for all of families and friends and students of those whose lives have been lost,” school officials said in the statement.
Sgt. Steven Blanco of the Texas Department of Public Safety said the crash happened around 8:17 p.m. Tuesday on a two-lane road about nine miles east of Andrews, Texas, when the 17-seat passenger van carrying the golf teams collided with a pickup truck.
Two people in the pickup truck were killed, authorities said. They were identified as 38-year-old Henrich Siemens and an unnamed 13-year-old, both from Seminole, Texas.
A preliminary investigation indicates that the driver of the southbound pickup truck for unknown reasons veered into the northbound lanes, colliding with the van, the Department of Public Safety said Wednesday. The agency said both vehicles caught fire following the crash.
Blanco said the cause of the crash remains under investigation by the Texas Highway Patrol’s West Texas Region.
The National Transportation Safety Board announced Wednesday afternoon that it has sent to Texas an 11-member team, including accident reconstruction experts, to conduct an investigation of the crash in conjunction with the highway patrol.
NTSB spokesman Eric Weiss at a news conference said the speed limit in the area of the crash is 75 mph. Weiss said determining the speed of the vehicles when the collision occurred will be part of the investigation.
“It’s a very tragic scene. Very very tragic,” said Blanco, describing the crash when officers first arrived.
University officials confirmed that James was driving the vehicle when the collision happened.
James was in his first year as head coach of both the women’s and men’s golf teams, school officials said.
School officials said they were working Wednesday to notify the families of all those involved in the crash and to provide counseling and religious services to all students, faculty and staff on campus.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott released a statement Wednesday asking Texans to join in praying for the families of those whose lives were lost and for the recovery of two critically injured students.
“We grieve with the loved ones of the individuals whose lives were horrifically taken too soon in this fatal vehicle crash near Andrews last night,” Abbott said.
“MURIENDO POR CRUZAR,” AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE INCREASING NUMBER OF IMMIGRANT DEATHS ALONG THE BORDER, THIS SUNDAY, AUGUST 3 AT 6 P.M./5 C
Carmen Dominicci and Neida Sandoval present the Telemundo and The Weather Channel co-production
Miami – July 31, 2014 –Telemundo presents “Muriendo por Cruzar”, a documentary that investigates why increasing numbers of immigrants are dying while trying to cross the US-Mexican border near the city of Falfurrias, Texas, this Sunday, August 3 at 6PM/5 C. The Telemundo and The Weather Channel co-production, presented by Noticias Telemundo journalists Carmen Dominicci and Neida Sandoval, reveals the obstacles immigrants face once they cross into US territory, including extreme weather conditions, as they try to evade the border patrol. “Muriendo por Cruzar” is part of Noticias Telemundo’s special coverage of the crisis on the border and immigration reform.
“‘Muriendo por Cruzar’” dares to ask questions that reveal the actual conditions undocumented immigrants face as they try to start a new life in the United States,” said Alina Falcón, Telemundo’s Executive Vice President for News and Alternative Programming. “Our collaboration with The Weather Channel was very productive. They have a unique expertise in covering the impact of weather on people’s lives, as we do in covering immigration reform and the border crisis. The result is a compelling documentary that exposes a harrowing reality.”
“Muriendo por Cruzar” is the first co-production by Telemundo and The Weather Channel. Both networks are part of NBCUniversal.
This meeting is expected to build on the groundwork of that meeting and address the thorny issue of denuclearisation, where experts say little progress has been made.
Days before the Hanoi meeting, the agenda remains unclear.
What did the last summit achieve?
The first summit last June in Singapore, between two leaders who had previously only exchanged vitriol, was certainly a historic moment.
However, the agreement they signed was vague on detail and little has been done about its stated goal of “denuclearisation”.
Image copyright AFP
Image caption
The second summit won’t be able to match that first handshake in 2018
Donald Trump promised to scale back the US-South Korea military exercises that angered the North, but in the months that have passed many have queried what he got in return.
Moves like the dismantling of a key rocket site in the North last summer are little more more than a gesture, experts say, given the North made no commitment to halt weapons development or shut down missile bases.
However, lower-level negotiation channels have recently seen activity, which could mean more goes into a Hanoi declaration.
So what can we expect this time round?
This time round both leaders will be very conscious that expectations will be high for an outcome that demonstrates tangible signs of progress – or at least a measurable roadmap for progress.
Analysts will watch closely what concessions both sides are prepared to make for this.
Washington’s original stance was that North Korea had to unilaterally give up its nuclear weapons before there could be any sanctions relief.
But just a few days ago, President Trump said he was “in no rush” to press denuclearisation.
One possibility mooted is a declaration to officially end the Korean War. Some suggest the US will ask North Korea to put forward concrete steps, such as dismantling the Yongbyon nuclear site and missile bases, in exchange for some US sanctions relief.
Why is it happening in Vietnam?
Image copyright KCNA
Image caption
Mr Kim might try to get some insights into Vietnam’s remarkable economic growth
It’s an ideal location for many reasons. It has diplomatic relations with both the US and North Korea, despite once having been enemies with the US – and could be used by the US as an example of two countries working together and setting aside their past grievances.
Ideologically, both Vietnam and North Korea are communist countries – though Vietnam has rapidly developed since and become one of the fastest growing economies in Asia, all while retaining absolute power.
Its rapid development could be used by the US to show the direction North Korea could go in should it choose to open its doors.
El vicepresidente Jorge Glas Espinel indicó este martes que no va a salir del país, aunque tiene varias invitaciones de algunos países. “Yo no voy a salir del país, yo me quedo aquí en el Ecuador, enfrentando estas cosas”, dijo.
En entrevista con radio Sonorama, transmitido también por el canal de la Vicepresidencia en Facebook, dijo que ha sufrido linchamiento mediático ya durante dos años, tratando de vincularlo con hechos en los que no tiene nada que ver. “Sin una sola prueba (…) todos tenemos derecho a la honra”.
“Todos me acusan a mí”, no expresamente, pero mi foto está todos los días en las portadas de los medios.
Vicepresidente sin funciones
Glas señaló que no va a renunciar, que fue elegido igual que el presidente Lenín Moreno por cuatro años y que va a permanecer por ese tiempo que dura su periodo.
“¿Y por qué voy a renunciar? Primero, que fui elegido en binomio; si renunciamos, renunciamos los dos. Fui elegido igual que el presidente Moreno y voy a permanecer los cuatro años del período (2017-2021)”, insistió.
Glas afirmó que su función es “esencial… reemplazar al presidente cuando se lo requiera”.
Fue un logro para el país la repotenciación y no me siento aludido porque asumo que se refiere a Capaya y sus secuaces. Glas, vicepresidente los últimos cuatro años del gobierno del exmandatario Rafael Correa y quien estuvo a cargo de los sectores estratégicos, dijo que no ha sido ejecutor, sino solo “parte de la dirección política para que la repotenciación se hiciera realidad”.
Según Glas, los ejecutores de la repotenciación de Esmeraldas fueron Capaya y Álex Bravo.
Magistraturas en tensión
La relación entre Moreno y Glas se rompió a inicios de agosto cuando se hicieron públicos audios de un delator de Odebrecht en los que presuntamente vinculaba a Glas con actos de corrupción. Glas criticó en un comunicado al presidente, diciéndole que “se está orquestando el retorno del viejo país a través del reparto, del tongo. Se construye un escenario propicio para la corrupción institucionalizada”. De inmediato Moreno le quitó todas las funciones y desde entonces el vicepresidente no cumple ninguna actividad de gobierno. En Ecuador por ley el presidente determina las actividades del vicepresidente.
Glas cuestionó las declaraciones del Gobierno, del ministro de Hidrocarburos (Carlos Pérez García) sobre el estado de las refinerías. Agregó que en este momento no considera al gobierno como suyo aunque es el vicepresidente constitucional de la República y vicepresidente de Alianza PAIS.
En esta nueva etapa procesal espera que la justicia actúe en derecho porque “todos son inocentes hasta que se demuestre su culpabilidad”.
Para que el segundo mandatario pueda ser vinculado con la investigación penal la Asamblea Nacional debe dar su autorización con el voto de al menos 92 del total de los 137 legisladores. El partido de gobierno, Alianza PAIS, cuenta con una bancada de 75 integrantes.
Pete Buttigieg said on Thursday that Stacey Abrams was robbed of the governorship of Georgia, blaming voter suppression for her narrow loss last year.
“Stacey Abrams ought to be the governor of Georgia,” Buttigieg said to applause at the Democratic National Committee’s African American Leadership Summit in Atlanta.
Story Continued Below
“When racially motivated voter suppression is permitted, when districts are drawn so that politicians get to choose their voters instead of the other way around, when money is allowed to outvote people in this country, we cannot truly say we live in a democracy,” he continued.
Abrams, who lost to Republican Brian Kemp, was edged out by fewer than 55,000 votes, but still made history as the first African American woman to secure the Democratic nomination for governor.
She has since maintained a high public profile, delivering the Democratic response to the State of the Union address in February and openly flirting with a 2020 presidential run.
She has also been courted by the current Democratic White House contenders. Both Buttigieg and Beto O’Rourke were expected to meet privately with Abrams on the sidelines of the leadership summit this week.
Buttigieg’s appearance at the summit is part of an effort to boost his standing with black voters. In a recent poll, the South Bend mayor only won 2 percent of the support of black voters, a key part of the Democratic base. He has publicly acknowledged that he needs to do more to win over African Americans, and he’s pledged to build a campaign team that reflects the country’s diversity.
“Any security measure that reduces physical access to the Capitol Complex makes it less accessible to the public it serves,” Honore and his team wrote. “As representatives of the people, Members understandably seek to be available to their constituents and transparent about their travel and activities, yet such openness can create physical security vulnerabilities.”
Honore’s review will ignite what is expected to be a tense reckoning among lawmakers who have been surrounded by thousands of National Guard troops, fencing and razor wire since the assault. It arrives at a moment of extreme distrust among lawmakers themselves, with many Democrats viewing the 138 Republicans who voted against certifying some of the states’ election results as a driver of the violent riots. And Republicans have blasted Honore for his comments accusing some GOP lawmakers and Capitol Police officials of complicity in the attack. House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has also argued that he worries Honore’s recommendation would permanently turn the Capitol into a “fortress.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) tasked Honore with the review as part of an initial bid to shore up overtaxed Capitol Police and identify significant gaps in the capacity of the force, District of Columbia law enforcement and other federal agencies to aid in an emergency. Other officials on Honore’s team include retired Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan, who helped organize aid to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, and Mary McCord, a former acting assistant attorney general for national security.
The group’s most significant recommendation includes the establishment of a “dedicated quick reaction force” for all of Washington D.C., one that could respond to developing emergencies and quickly ramp up law enforcement capacity. Honore’s team will propose three options: a force consisting of multiple law enforcement agencies that is granted legal authorities and funding; a quick reation force run by the D.C. National Guard that draws form National Guard units across the country; and a permanent military police battalion housed within the D.C. National Guard.
Honore will also suggest adding 874 new positions within the Capitol Police to cut down on overtime — which stretched to 720,000 hours in the last fiscal year, they found, an “unsustainable” dynamic.
“[I]t leaves the force with no ability to pull officers from the line to train at the individual, leader, or collective level or to prepare for evolving threats,” they wrote.
The advisers also found that the Capitol Police’s ability to process intelligence about the rising volume of threats against lawmakers is inadequate.
“Individuals and groups advocating extremist views actively use the internet to propagandize, recruit, radicalize, and organize political violence such as the Capitol Attack,” they wrote in their report. “Some also target Members with threats of violence. The USCP is not postured to track, assess, plan against, or respond to this plethora of threats due to significant capacity shortfalls, inadequate training, immature processes, and an operating culture that is not intelligence-driven.”
Honore’s group also recommended overhauling the Capitol Police Board — the obscure entity that includes the USCP chief, as well as House and Senate security officials and the architect of the Capitol — to make it less cumbersome during a crisis. That would include, in part, empowering the Capitol Police chief to act unilaterally during a crisis.
Among other recommendations:
-Expanding the Capitol Police’s canine explosive detection program, reestablishing horse-mounted patrols, requiring the presence of specially trained “civil defense units” every time Congress is in session and equipping all uniformed officers with riot gear and less-than-lethal weapons.
-Establishing an “unblinking” monitoring system of cameras and other sensors to help slow and track emerging threats to the building.
-Better route planning for Capitol evacuations during an emergency.
Honore also delved into what is likely to be a controversial subject: Enhanced background checks of all members, staff and Capitol employees to prevent any “insider threat.”
“Requiring background checks for identification card holders and employing card readers more widely throughout the complex would decrease insider threat risks and enhance the safety of all Members, staff, and legislative employees,” his group concluded.
That recommendations comes as Democrats have continued to allege that some Republicans may have wittingly or unwittingly aided the Jan. 6 riots, either by stoking then-President Donald Trump’s false claims that the election had been stolen or by encouraging people to march on D.C. amid Trump’s calls to stop Congress from certifying his defeat. Honore will also recommend pushing Capitol screening further back from the building and adding more “screening portals” throughout the complex.
Aside from security within the Capitol complex, Honore also offered initial recommendations about security for lawmakers while they’re traveling or in their districts. Though current protocols provide for security for legislative leaders, rank-and-file members often have “limited or inconsistent protection at their homes, in their districts, and while in transit,” the group found.
The advisers recommend establishing a “threat-based” system for providing security to non-leaderhsip members, and the establishment of a “Member Travel Operations Center” to manage security for lawmakers while in transit. District offices should also be upgraded to ensure a “uniform” level of monitoring and safety.
Media captionOther presidents got money for a border barrier – why not Trump?
The latest chapter of Washington dysfunction has culminated in drastic action by the president in order to deliver his key campaign promise. But as his opponents shake their heads and counter-punch through the courts, the historical lessons do not bode well for them, writes Jonathan Turley, professor of constitutional law at George Washington University.
President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency to build his long-promised border wall was met with a torrent of condemnations and threats from Democratic critics, including preparation for another heated court fight.
American politics have not been so bitter and divided since Benjamin Franklin and John Adams were forced to share the same bed in 1776.
There is a fundamental incompatibility – if not mutual revulsion – that divides our politics and its focus has fittingly become a debate over a wall.
Does the reality at the border matter?
After securing only part of the funding that he sought, President Trump declared a national emergency along the southern border to allow him to start construction with over $8bn (£6.2bn) of shifted funds to complete his signature campaign promise. For their part, the Democrats are promising immediate court challenges.
There is little evidence of a true national security emergency on the US border with Mexico. Most illegal immigrants overstay their visas or pass through ports of entry. Moreover, the number of apprehensions are down from 1.6 million in 2000 to roughly 400,000 in each year of Trump’s term.
That does not mean that border protection and enhanced enforcement is not warranted. Crossings do remain a serious problem, but few would call this a national emergency.
Yet, President Trump is calling this a national emergency and that may be enough. The reason is not the data but the definition behind a declared emergency.
What is a national emergency?
There is no real definition. Under the National Emergencies Act of 1976, Congress simply allowed a president to declare an emergency and to assume extraordinary powers to combat it.
That is the reason why emergencies are so easy to declare and so difficult to end.
While Congress reserved the right to rescind a declaration, it has never done so.
Even if the Democrats secure enough votes in both houses to negate the declaration by a majority vote, it can be vetoed by the president. It would then require a super-majority of two-thirds of both houses to override the veto.
The challenge for the Democrats is getting a federal court to supply the result that they could not secure in their own branch of government. If they are unable to secure a majority of the 535 members which make up both houses of Congress, they are unlikely to change the result with the single vote of an unelected federal judge.
‘Haze of Democratic hypocrisy’
There is also a problem for the Democrats in getting a judge to listen to arguments through a thick haze of hypocrisy.
President Trump’s assertions of executive authority remain well short of the extremes reached by Barack Obama who openly and repeatedly circumvented Congress.
In one State of the Union address, Mr Obama chastised both houses for refusing to give him changes in immigration laws and other changes. He then declared his intention to get the same results by unilateral executive action.
Image copyright Alamy
Image caption
President Obama with the Libyan ambassador in 2011
That shocking pledge was met with a roar of approval from the Democrats – including Speaker Nancy Pelosi – who celebrated the notion of their own institutional irrelevancy.
In 2011, I represented Democratic and Republican members who challenged the right of President Obama (and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton) to launch the Libyan war without a declaration from Congress.
Mr Obama then proceeded (like Mr Trump) to use loose funds in the executive branch to fund the entire war without an appropriation.
Ms Pelosi and the Democratic leadership enthusiastically supported Obama’s circumvention of Congress on both the lack of a declaration and the lack of an appropriation.
Will court ignore precedent?
The greatest hypocrisy is the authority that the Democrats intend to use in this challenge.
In 2016, I represented the House of Representatives in challenging one of Mr Obama’s unilateral actions, after he demanded funds to pay insurance companies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Every year, presidents must ask for appropriations of money to run the government – a critical check on executive authority held by the legislative branch.
Congress refused so Mr Obama simply ordered the Treasury would pay the companies as a permanent appropriation – even though Congress never approved an annual, let alone a permanent, appropriation.
Mr Obama did not declare an emergency, he just took the money. Nevertheless, Ms Pelosi and the Democratic leadership opposed the lawsuit and declared it a meritless attack on presidential authority. We won the lawsuit.
In addition to ruling that Mr Obama violated the Constitution, the federal district court in Washington, DC, ruled that a house of Congress does have standing to bring such a lawsuit – a precedent that Congress had sought to establish.
Now Democrats are going to use the precedent that they opposed under Mr Obama. However, they could end up not only losing the challenge but frittering away this historic precedent.
Where will the $8bn come from?
$1.4bn from the agreed budget
$600m from cash and assets seized from drug traffickers
$2.5bn from a defence department anti-drug trafficking fund
$3.5bn reallocated from military construction projects
Courts often turn to standing to avoid tough decisions. Since the Democrats are likely to try to litigate this question in the Ninth Circuit which covers California and some other western states, the judge will not be bound by the DC ruling and could rule against the right of Congress to bring such actions.
Moreover, the litigation to the Supreme Court could easily take two years. Once there, the challengers will face a newly minted conservative majority with two Trump appointees.
That would mean that the Democrats could hand Trump a major victory on his signature campaign issue just before voters go to the polls in 2020.
A different age
That brings us back to the night Franklin and Adams had to share a bed. The two founding fathers were going to meet Admiral Richard Howe of the British Royal Navy in Staten Island to discuss the possibility of ending the Revolutionary War.
They found themselves in New Brunswick, New Jersey, at the Indian Queen Tavern. However, it was full and only one room with one small bed was available.
Two of the most irascible framers of the US Constitution crawled into the small bed and immediately began to quarrel.
Franklin had opened up a window but Adams held the common view of the time that you could get ill from night vapours. Franklin insisted that cool fresh air was, in fact, a health benefit and added: “I believe you are not acquainted with my theory of colds.”
Image copyright Alamy
Image caption
Strange bedfellows… John Adams and Benjamin Franklin
They argued all night until Adams fell asleep. Adams simply wrote later: “I soon fell asleep, and left him and his philosophy together.”
It is perhaps a lesson for our times.
While the debate over open windows as opposed to open borders differs by a certain magnitude, there was a time when entirely incompatible politicians could reach an agreement.
Sure, it was by exhaustion rather than persuasion, but the dialogue continued to a conclusion without enlisting a federal court.
If the Democrats lose this case shortly before the 2020 election, they may wish they had tried the one-who-can-stay-up-the-latest approach to conflict resolution.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University in Washington, DC.
Johnson has only recently returned to work after himself recovering from Covid-19. His government has been heavily criticized over its handling of the health crisis, with some claiming it failed to adequately distribute personal protective equipment and scale up testing.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock set out an ambitious target of reaching 100,000 coronavirus tests by the end of April, but just 52,000 tests were carried out on Tuesday. However, the U.K. appears to be much closer to that aim now, with 81,611 people having been tested on Wednesday.
The country’s coronavirus death toll now stands at 26,711, Johnson said in the daily briefing, an increase of 674 from the previous day. More than 171,000 people have tested positive for the disease.
Image caption
Wang Jing, el empresario de las telecomunicaciones que quiere construir un canal interoceánico por Nicaragua, perdió buna parte de su fortuna en la bolsa de valores china.
El multimillonario al que peor le ha ido en el planeta en lo que va del 2015 vive en China.
Pero sus problemas –una brutal reducción de su fortuna, que se encogió 84% en cuatro meses– amenazan con hacerse sentir especialmente en Nicaragua.
La razón: ese “pobre millonario” es Wang Jing, el empresario chino que hace más de dos años obtuvo la concesión para construir una canal interoceánico en el país centroamericano.
Y su inmensa fortuna, que en junio pasado se estimaba en unos US$10.200 millones, era una de las pocas cosas que le daban cierta credibilidad al ambicioso proyecto.
Lea también: El empresario chino que promete “transformar la vida” de Nicaragua con el canal
Image copyright reuters
Image caption
Jing anunció con bombos y platillos el inicio de las obras del canal en diciembre del año pasado. Pero estas se han tenido que posponer varias veces.
En los últimos meses, sin embargo, las acciones de la telefónica Xinwei –el principal negocio de Jing– han sido unas de las más afectadas por el desplome de la bolsa en China.
Y según el Índice de Billonarios que mantiene la agencia de noticias especializada Bloomberg, esto hizo caer su fortuna personal hasta “nada más” US$1.100 millones.
Lea también: Quién gana, quién pierde y quién debe preocuparse por la nueva caída de la bolsa en China
Incertidumbre
Esto deja al magnate de las telecomunicaciones con poco más del doble de lo que dice ya haber invertido de su propio bolsillo en el proyecto de canal, que se estima podría terminar costado unos US$50.000 millones.
Y esa supuesta inversión tampoco ha terminado de convencer a muchos de que el proyecto –que pretende competir con el canal de Panamá– es realmente viable.
Lea también: Nicaragua, un país dividido por un canal que aún no empieza a construirse
Image copyright Reuters
Image caption
No todos en Nicaragua están convencidos de que el proyecto de canal es una buena idea.
Efectivamente, uno de los estudios financiados por Jing, hecho público la semana pasada, concluyó que la iniciativa todavía presentaba “muchos riesgos e incertidumbres”.
“El Proyecto ofrece beneficios reales para el ambiente y las personas de Nicaragua”, sostiene el Estudio de Impacto Ambiental y Social, elaborado por la consultora británica Environmental Resources Management.
“Pero sólo si el argumento comercial es robusto, el financiamiento para completar la construcción es seguro y el Proyecto se construye y opera según las normas internacionales”, agrega el reporte, que también deja en claro que, para reducir la incertidumbre, todavía son necesarios numerosos nuevos estudios.
Más estudios
En esas circunstancias, el consorcio creado por Wang Jing para operar la concesión ya anunció una nueva posposición del inicio de las obras de excavación del canal.
Pero ahora hay dudas incluso sobre la capacidad, o voluntad, de Jing para financiar los estudios necesarios, por más que voceros del HKND Group hayan intentado desestimar el impacto de sus actuales problemas bursátiles.
Image copyright AFP
Image caption
El impacto del canal sobre el Gran Lago de Nicaragua es una de las cosas que más preocupa a los críticos del proyecto.
Lea también: Los impresionantes números del Gran Canal de Nicaragua
“No tengo dudas de que se harán los arreglos financieros apropiados antes de que empiece la construcción”, le dijo a Bloomberg el consejero principal de HKND Group, Bill Wild.
Aunque muchos analistas coinciden en que la nueva situación financiera de Jing, y el problema general de la bolsa de valores china, harán que le sea más difícil conseguir el financiamiento necesario.
Efectivamente, en diciembre pasado Jing le dijo a BBC Mundo que su intención era conseguir el financiamiento para la ruta de 278km de longitud a través de la bolsa de valores.
Y, en estos momentos, todo parece estar llamando a los potenciales inversionistas a la prudencia, incluyendo el hecho de que en estos momentos el ambicioso proyecto sólo parece producir malas noticias.
Efectivamente, la publicación del Estudio de Impacto Ambiental y Social no bastó para tranquilizar a los críticos del canal, que siguen amenazando con protestas.
Lea también: Las dudas ambientales sobre el proyecto chino del canal de Nicaragua
Image copyright EPA
Image caption
Wang Jing había comprometido su fortuna personal en el proyecto.
Y el viernes pasado un piloto canadiense involucrado en los estudios geológicos y sísmicos del canal falleció en un accidente aéreo mientras desempeñaba sus labores.
“La causa de este trágico incidente es desconocida en el presente y mayores detalles serán otorgados en la medida que se conozcan”, dijo en un comunicado HKND Group.
“Ofrecemos nuestras profundas condolencias a la familia del señor Grant Atkinson”, concluye el comunicado de la empresa.
LOS ANGELES, July 30, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — KWHY-TV Noticias 22, the MundoFOX Los Angeles television network affiliate’s award-winning newscast, Noticias 22, “La voz de Tu Ciudad,” “The voice of your city”, scored as the fastest growing late Spanish language newscast in Nielsen’s recently completed July 2015 Sweeps for Los Angeles, the city with the largest Hispanic market in the nation.
“Our growth is a strong statement of relevance and support to our news team and editorial direction,” stated Palmira Perez, Noticias 22 MundoFOX News Anchor. “Noticias 22 continues to produce the most engaging, compelling news and information daily for our community, and as part of Meruelo Media, together we’re committed to journalistic excellence,” added Otto Padron, President of Meruelo Media.
KWHY-TV Noticias 22 MundoFOX Los Angeles July 2015 Sweeps Highlights:
KWHY-TV Noticias 22 MundoFOX at 10:00 p.m. posted significant “year-to-year” growth in average ratings among the key demographic Adults 18-49, up 35% from the July 2014 Sweeps.
All the other Spanish-language late local newscasts were down, including those on KRCA/Estrella (-22%), KVEA/Telemundo (-1%) and KMEX/Univision (-2%). (Based on Monday to Friday average ratings.)
Among Adults 25-54, ratings for KWHY-TV Noticias 22 MundoFOX at 10:00 p.m. were up 34% from the July 2014 Sweeps, more than the late newscast on KMEX/Univision (+15%) and KVEA/Telemundo (+7%), with KRCA/Estrella falling 19%.
Source: Los Angeles NSI Ratings, July 2015
For more information on KWHY-TV Noticias 22 MundoFOX, please visit www.mundofox22.com.
About Meruelo Media
Meruelo Media (MM) is the media division of The Meruelo Group. MM currently operates two Southern California Legendary media platforms; the classic hip-hop and R&B radio station, 93.5 KDAY and one of Los Angeles’ oldest Hispanic TV stations, KWHY-TV Canal 22, which is currently the flagship of MundoFOX Television Network. MM also owns the first and only US Hispanic Super Station, Super 22, airing on its KWHY-TV second digital stream and reaching over 6 Million Homes over various multiple video delivery providers. MM also broadcasts in Houston and Santa Barbara. The Meruelo Group is a minority owned, privately-held management company serving a diversified portfolio of affiliated entities with interests in banking and financial services; food services, manufacturing, distribution and restaurant operations; construction and engineering; hospitality and gaming; real estate management; media, public and private equity investing. For more information please visit www.meruelogroup.com.
Republican
presidential nominee Donald Trump and Mexican President Enrique
Pena Nieto in Mexico City on August 31. REUTERS/Henry Romero
During a phone call with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on
Friday, US President Donald Trump disparaged Mexico and
threatened to use military force against the drug trade,
according to Dolia Estevez, a journalist based in Washington, DC.
In an interview with the Mexican news outlet
Aristegui Noticias, Estevez, who cited sources on both sides of
the call, said, “It was a very offensive conversation where Trump
humiliated Peña Nieto.”
Estevez said that while both the White House and the Mexican
president have released information about the call, both sides
characterized it as a “friendly” conversation and neither disclosed
what was said.
Estevez said she “obtained confidential information”
corroborating the content of the discussion.
“I don’t need the Mexicans. I don’t need Mexico,” Trump reportedly told the Mexican president. “We
are going to build the wall and you all are going to pay for it,
like it or not.”
Trump hinted that the US would force Mexico to fund the wall with
a 10% tax on Mexican exports “and of 35% on those exports that
hurt Mexico the most,” Estevez wrote in Proyecto Puente.
Before the call, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Trump was considering a tax on imports
from Mexico to pay for the wall.
Pena
Nieto and Trump. REUTERS/Henry
Romero
“He even complained of the bad role the [Mexican] army is playing
in the fight against narco trafficking,” Estevez, who writes for Forbes and is close to the Mexican
journalist and anchorwoman Carmen Aristegui, said during an interview with Aristegui’s eponymous news
outlet.
Trump “even suggested to [Peña Nieto] that if they are incapable
of combatting [narco trafficking] he may have to send troops to
assume this task,” she said.
The US president “said he would not permit the drugs coming from
Mexico to continue massacring our cities,” Estevez added. She
said Trump went so far as to say, “I really didn’t want to go to
Mexico last August,” referring to Trump’s visit to the Mexican capital last
year.
Peña Nieto was accompanied on the call by people from his
country’s foreign ministry, while Trump was joined by “the famous son-in-law,” likely meaning senior
adviser Jared Kushner, and chief strategist Steven Bannon.
Kushner is reportedly close to Mexican Foreign Minister
Luis Videgaray, and they were seen as the likely go-betweens for
the two governments.
“Before this unusual onslaught, Peña was not firm,” Estevez said.
“He was stammering.”
Mexico’s
new foreign minister, Luis Videgaray, right, with Pena
Nieto. REUTERS/Edgard
Garrido
Despite this confrontation, the Mexican government still believes
in negotiating with the Trump administration, Estevez said.
She also reports that Videgaray met with US officials
on Tuesday in Tapachula, near the Mexico-Guatemala border.
According to Estevez, the Mexican foreign minister met with Craig Deare, a member of Trump’s National
Security Council handling the Western Hemisphere; Adm. Kurt Tidd,
commander of US Southern Command; and Roberta Jacobson, the US
ambassador to Mexico. The Mexican Foreign Ministry has made no
mention of the encounter.
Estevez says the meeting was to address Mexican
cooperation in deterring the flow of Central American migrants
through Mexico to the US. However, neither US nor Mexican
officials contacted by Estevez would confirm the meeting.
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