GOP blocks path to citizenship for young illegal immigrants

Post-DREAM Act: Is Real Immigration Reform Dead?
The failure of the Senate to achieve Cloture on the DREAM Act has not ended the Immigration debate. Politically, both sides will attempt to capitalize on this vote.  Democrats will argue that they are the only ones who care about the Hispanic community, while Republicans will claim that they are the only ones serious about enforcement.  But from a policy perspective, where might the debate go during the next Congress with Republicans running the House and a stronger GOP presence in the Senat...

McConnell: We dont need no stinkin Russian nuclear treaty
Sen. Mitch McConnell The Senate’s Republican leader said Sunday he would oppose a nuclear arms treaty with Russia, damaging prospects for President Barack Obama‘s Foreign Policy priority in the final days of the postelection Congress. Top Democrats still expressed confidence the Senate would ratify the accord by year’s end. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., criticized the treaty’s verification system and expressed concern that the pact would limit U.S. missile defen...

Students look to 2012 after immigration bill fails
Undocumented UCLA Student Leslie Perez, 22, weeps while watching a televised debate of the DREAM Act in the Senate at the UCLA Downtown Labor Center in Los Angeles, Saturday, Dec. 18, 2010. Perez is an undocumented Student at UCLA. The DREAM Act would give provisional legal status to Illegal Immigrants brought to the country as Children. Emboldened by months of phone calls to lawmakers, Hunger Strikes and sit-ins, a group of College Students and graduates in Los Angeles say they plan to take th...

Senate Shatters DREAM
A last-gasp effort to pass an Immigration Bill that has long languished in Congress failed Saturday morning, with Democrats failing to muster the 60 votes required to bring the DREAM Act to the floor for a final vote. The push to resuscitate the bill, which would have created a path to Citizenship for young Illegal Immigrants who met specific requirements, was not expected to pass amid heated opposition from Republicans and some Centrist Democrats, who cast DREAM (the acronym stands for the Deve...

McConnell opposes START treaty...
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate's Republican leader came out Sunday against a nuclear arms treaty with Russia, warning Democrats not to rush through President Barack Obama's Foreign Policy priority in the final days of the postelection Congress. Top Democrats still expressed confidence the Senate would ratify the accord by year's end. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., made no prediction about the treaty's success or failure if it came to a vote, but he said many Republicans were just now gett...

Midday Open Thread
DADT is dead, 17 years too late. After much trial and with much tribulation, President Obama and Majority Leader Reid kept a crucial campaign promise and advanced equality in our country. Welcome to the thread. The Christian conservative right considers this the end of America. This is worth reprinting at length for the sheer hilarity. This isn’t a game, and the Military should never be used, as is now being done, for massive social re-engineering. The new Marine motto: “The Few, ...

Foxs Chris Wallace To Sen. Durbin: Are You Going To Change The Filibuster Rule?
On Fox News Sunday today, Senator Dick Durbin discussed the recent increase in filibustering in the Senate, and the possibility of changing Filibuster rules in the new Congress next month. Host Chris Wallace asked Durbin if Senate Democrats plan to attempt to change the Filibuster rule in the new Congress in order to limit filibustering, especially considering that the number of Cloture votes to end filibusters was exceptionally high in this year’s Congress. “It’s a clear abus...

Youth immigration bill falls five votes short of passage
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans yesterday doomed an effort that would have given hundreds of thousands of young Illegal Immigrants a path to legal status if they enrolled in college or joined the Military. Sponsors of the DREAM Act fell five votes short of the 60 they needed to break through largely GOP opposition and win its enactment before Republicans take over the House and narrow Democrats’ majority in the Senate next month. President Obama called the vote “incredibly dis...

Republicans fail in second bid to amend START
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A second Republican bid to amend President Barack Obama's strategic nuclear arms treaty with Russia failed during debate in Senate on Sunday and top Democrats expressed confidence they would have the votes to approve the accord. Republican Senators concerned about the large disparity in tactical, short-range Nuclear Weapons between Russia and the United States rallied behind a treaty-killing amendment that would have inserted a reference to the issue in the pre...

49 Percent Of Americans Find Democratic Party 'Too Liberal'
Gallup reports that 49 percent of Americans believe the Democratic party has become "too liberal" with 38 percent believing the Democratic party is just about right. On the flip side, 34 percent of American find the Republican party "too conservative" while 41 percent find the Republican party just "about right." The recent increase in perceptions of the Democratic Party as too liberal could be a response to the expansion in Government Spending since President Barack Obama took office, most no...

Reid and Pelosi Finally Get Mugged by Public Opinion
From Michael Barone’s in the Washington Examiner: It is a source of continuing fascination for me to watch the interaction between Public Opinion, as measured in polls and election results, and the actions of members of Congress, elected in one political environment and looking in most cases to be re-elected in one that may be quite different. Eleven months ago, after the Massachusetts Senate election, I was convinced that Democrats could not jam their Health Care bill through because v...

McConnell leads GOP counter-attack against START pact
Washington (CNN) -- Senate Republicans mounted a counter-attack Sunday against ratifying a new nuclear arms treaty with Russia this year, trying to put off a vote that Democrats say they will win if it is held. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky led the way, telling CNN's "State of the Union" that members of his party need more time to consider the START accord. "I've decided I cannot support the treaty," McConnell said in his first outright rejection of ratif...

Dan Choi: I Am Somebody! Autumn Sandeen: I Still Not Recognized As Somebody.
I have heard many senators and congresspeople use variants of Admiral Mullen's pro-Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) Repeal phrase of relating to how DADT "[f]orces young men and women to lie to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens." For example, from the floor of the Senate yesterday (December 18, 2010): Senator Carl Levin: ...A policy, which in Admiral Mullen's words -- memorable words -- quote "Forces young men and women to lie to lie about who they are in order to de...

Senators see chance for passing 9/11 health bill
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A retooled bill providing medical care for Firefighters and other emergency responders to the September 11, 2001 attacks could be resurrected soon in the Senate, a few weeks after Republicans blocked the measure, backers said on Sunday. "We believe we are on a path to victory by the end of this week," said Senator Charles Schumer. But he was quick to add that unexpected obstacles could arise. He and fellow New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand outlined for reporters some cha...

Senators See Chance For Passing 9 / 11 Health Bill
The latest on President Obama, the new Congress and other news from Washington and around the nation. Join the discussion. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A retooled bill providing medical care for Firefighters and other emergency responders to the September 11, 2001 attacks could be resurrected soon in the Senate, a few weeks after Republicans blocked the measure, backers said on Sunday. "We believe we are on a path to victory by the end of this week," said Senator Charles Schumer. But he was quick to ...

Today in Congress
The House is not in session today. In the Senate, courtesy of the Office of the Majority Leader: Convenes: 12pm Following any Leader remarks, the Senate will resume Executive Session to consider the New START Treaty. There will then be 3 hours of debate with respect to the Risch amendment #4839 with the time divided as follows: one hour under the control of Senator Kerry or his designee and 2 hours under the control of Senator Risch or his designee. No amendments will be in order to the Risch ...

U.S. senators hope to pass 9/11 health bill
WASHINGTON - A retooled bill providing medical care for Firefighters and other emergency responders to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks could be resurrected soon in the U.S. Senate, a few weeks after Republicans blocked the measure, backers said Sunday. “We believe we are on a path to victory by the end of this week,” said Senator Charles Schumer. But he was quick to add that unexpected obstacles could arise. He and fellow New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand outlined for reporters some c...

With gay ban debate over, military impact in doubt
WASHINGTON — The debate over Gays in the Military has been settled with a historic decision to allow them to serve openly, but big questions lie ahead about how and when the change will take place, how Troops will accept it and whether it will hamper the U.S. Military effort in Afghanistan and Iraq. President Barack Obama is expected to sign into law this week the Legislation that passed the Senate on Saturday, an act some believe will carry social implications as profound as President Har...

Senate approves Illinois' first Asian-American federal judge
In a rare weekend session, the U.S. Senate voted unanimously late Saturday to confirm Chicago Federal Prosecutor Edmond E. Chang for a vacant judicial seat on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, paving the way for him to become the first Asian-American Federal Judge in Illinois. The vote, which came after a historic day that also saw the Senate Repeal the 17-year "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ban on Openly Gay Military Troops, also will make Chang, 40, the youngest federal...

New York Senators Say Christmas Miracle Coming For 9/11 First Responders
ABC News’ Matthew Jaffe reports: Once the Senate wraps up work on the START Treaty, it won’t be time for the Christmas break just yet. Before lawmakers head out of town for the holidays, the Senate will take another shot at a bill that would provide health care benefits and compensation to sick First Responders of the 9/11 attacks. “We are on the verge of a Christmas miracle,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., at a Press Conference today on Capitol Hill. Gillibrand and fello

McCain works on deal for START
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is negotiating with START advocates in the Senate and administration over a possible amendment to the resolution of ratification to the treaty, Politico has learned. The negotiations could make way for a Compromise amendment to the resolution of ratification on START that addresses McCain's concerns that the U.S.-Russian Arms Control pact in no way limit U.S. Missile Defenses. Continue Reading Text Size - + reset POLITICO 44 An amendment to the resolution of ratif...

Another Harry Reid epic failure! DREAM Act cloture vote fails 55-41
Another Harry Reid epic failure! DREAM Act Cloture vote fails 55-41 This is the issue of the day that was most important to me, not the Don’t ask, Don’ tell Repeal. Thankfully the nightmare amensty “Dream Act” Cloture vote failed today 55-41. It needed 60 yes votes to go to a full vote. Had this bill passed, I think it would have done far more damage to the country than repealing Don’t ask, Don’t Tell. Of course, i’m not Military expert either. The RIN...

Utahs Bennett votes for DREAM Act; bill fails in senate
Utah’s lame-duck Senator Bob Bennett was one of three Republicans who voted for the DREAM Act Saturday, but in the end, the bill failed to pass. The other two Republicans were Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski and Dick Lugar of Indiana. Sixty votes were needed for the bill to overcome a Republican Filibuster, and the final vote was five short of that mark. Forty one senators voted no. Five Democrats voted no, John Tester and Max Baucus of Montana, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, North Carolina Senator...

Republicans block youth immigration bill
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Saturday doomed an effort that would have given hundreds of thousands of young Illegal Immigrants a path to legal status if they enrolled in college or joined the Military. Sponsors of the "DREAM Act" fell five votes short of the 60 they needed to break through largely GOP opposition and win its enactment before Republicans take over the House and narrow Democrats' majority in the Senate next month. President Barack Obama called the vote "incredibly dis...

With gay ban debate over, military impact in doubt
WASHINGTON—The debate over Gays in the Military has been settled with a historic decision to allow them to serve openly, but big questions lie ahead about how and when the change will take place, how Troops will accept it and whether it will hamper the U.S. Military effort in Afghanistan and Iraq. President Barack Obama is expected to sign into law this week the Legislation that passed the Senate on Saturday, an act some believe will carry social implications as profound as President Harr...