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For months, Republican obstruction has slowed work on immigration reform in the Senate. And now we know why. Senators John McCain and Jon Kyl have been working on a bill that ignores real immigration reform so they can continue to use immigrants as a political punching bag. The Senators from Arizona have concocted a bill that does nothing to fix our broken immigration system. Their “border-only” bill focuses merely on enforcement and security – it doesn’t help our families, our communities, or our economy. It’s what you’d expect from senators who agree with their state’s decision to legalize racial profiling.
Click here to sign your name and send a fax The border-only bill does nothing to move the debate forward. All it does is provide political cover for people trying to stop real comprehensive immigration reform. We need a real debate on the floor of the Senate, not partisan posturing. Send a message to your Senator: we need debate, not false solutions. Thank you, p.s. We need to get 5,000 faxes to Senators today to show them how strong the opposition to this bill is – click here to send your fax, then forward this email to a friend!
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Tag Archives: civil rights
ThinkProgress.org
IMMIGRATION — TEXAS TEACHER SINGLES OUT LATINO STUDENT DURING SB-1070 DISCUSSION, SAYS MEXICANS ‘EXPECT HANDOUTS’: A high school English teacher in San Antonio, TX has been “removed from the classroom” after she reportedly singled out a Latino student wearing a Mexican soccer jersey and publicly insulted him with racist remarks. According to the student, Augustine Ortiz, what began as a discussion about Arizona’s new immigration law (SB-1070) escalated to an anti-Latino, racist attack. Ortiz said the teacher — whose name is being withheld pending an investigation — told him to sit in the front row, “proceeded to single him out repeatedly,” and made racist remarks about how Mexicans always “expect handouts.” The teacher also told the class that “soon it’s going to be the United States of Mexico,” according to Ortiz, and said Mexicans are “the racist ones.” The San Antonio Express-News reports that two students defended the teacher, saying Ortiz “was late to class and missed crucial aspects of her lecture.” They didn’t dispute the bulk of Ortiz’s account. However, another student in the class that day, Reina Mondragon, corroborated Ortiz’s story.” Mondragon said the teacher also “questioned why documents in the United States frequently are translated into Spanish and whether Mexicans should be allowed to own land in this country.” She said the teacher’s lecture “felt more like an attack, and like she was judging people from Mexico,” than a balanced discussion. According to Ortiz, when he went to complain about the incident, the vice principal “brushed him off.” However, once the school’s principal learned of the episode, administrators removed the teacher and launched an investigation. Ortiz also noted that the English teacher had been his favorite instructor. “She actually said we need to stand up for what we believe in,” he said. “And now I’m standing up for what I believe in.” About 93 percent of the students at the school are Hispanic.
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Republicans Block Democrats’ Efforts To Hold BP Accountable — GOP Leaving Taxpayers On The Hook For Bailing Out BP May 18, 2010
Today, Democrats took to the floor to explain the urgent need to pass this legislation to hold BP accountable and protect the American taxpayer, but Republicans blocked us for a second time in less than a week. Excerpts of Democrats’ remarks today are below.
By blocking Democrats’ 2nd attempt to pass the Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act – which would ensure BP pays for the full cost of its disastrous negligence by raising the outdated liability cap from $75 million to $10 billion – Republicans are leaving American taxpayers on the hook for bailing out BP.
Nevada Senator Harry Reid: “The fundamental principle behind the Wall Street bill we’ll finish this week is accountability. Those who created the mess bear the responsibility for cleaning it up. One of its most important provisions promises taxpayers they will never again be asked to bail out a big corporation that acted recklessly and put our economy at risk. When it comes to the ongoing catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, our motivation is no different… We have to put our foot down and make clear that taxpayers will not pick up the tab. I will do everything in my power to make sure the polluters pay the price.”
New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez: “After all, BP’s profits amounted to $5.6 billion for the first three months of this year. Profits, not proceeds. Profits. That breaks down to $94 million in profits each and every day. That means their current damages liability under the law of $75 million is less than one day’s profits. Less than one day’s profits… But they want taxpayers to bail them out when they spill. It’s fundamentally wrong. Our bill is as simple as it gets. It says no bailout for BP. It says BP pays for its own mess, not the nation’s taxpayers. It says you either want to fully protect the small businesses and communities devastated by the spill or you want to protect multibillion dollar oil companies from being held fully accountable.”
Florida Senator Bill Nelson: “We are looking at a gargantuan economic and environmental disaster facing this nation but particularly those states on the gulf coast and the Atlantic seaboard… The places like the sugary white beaches of northwest Florida, where I will be this Friday, where already the cancellations are coming right and left as their tourist season starts, and hotels that would normally have 85% occupancy are less than 20% occupancy. You see the economic consequences from this… For the life of me, I can’t understand someone objecting as they are going to do in raising an artificial limit of $75 million, up to at least $10 billion, and it’s probably going to exceed $10 billion. But the argument you’re going to hear is they are going to say oh, it shouldn’t be this, it ought to be tied to profit. Now, is it really responsible public policy to say that because of a company makes less money that it should be responsible for less damage? No.”
New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg: “And we’re going to see here today, as we saw the other day, a response from the other side, and I hope that they have the courage, the guts to stand up here and say where were the ordinary American taxpayers, or maybe we like the other guys better, maybe we like big oil better. Will the United States Senate stand with fishing industries and hard-working men and women who make a living providing sustenance to our nation, or will it continue its stand with big oil?… Our colleagues, they stayed true to the oil companies, they stood up and they wanted to make sure that they blocked any attempt to pass a bill that would raise the liability. So here we are back today again to urge our colleagues to stand up for the American taxpayers who are sick and tired of bailouts.”
Washington Senator Patty Murray: “Now, Mr. President, the questions are: who should be responsible for this cleanup? Who should bear the burden for big oil’s mistakes? Should it be the taxpayers, families and small business owners who are already being asked to bear so much today? Or should it be BP, the company that is responsible for this spill and that made $6.1 billion in profits in the first three months of this year alone? Mr. President, I cosponsored the prevention act because, to me the answer’s pretty clear. I believe that BP needs to be held accountable for the environmental and economic damage of this spill, and I’m going to continue to fight to make sure that our taxpayers do not end up using a single dime to pay for the mess this big oil company created. To me, this is an issue of fundamental fairness. If an oil company causes a spill, they should be the one to pay to clean it up, not the taxpayers.”
Maryland Senator Ben Cardin: “As Senator Murray has said and Senator Menendez has said and Senator Nelson has said, it’s basically whose side you’re on. Who should pay for this disaster? Should it be the taxpayers of this country? Should it be the small business owners whose livelihood is now in jeopardy? Should it be the property owners who are going to suffer damage? No. It should be BP oil and its affiliates. That’s what the Menendez bill does. It places responsibility on the appropriate party. BP should pay.”
Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar: “I recently saw firsthand the miles and miles of oil slick in the gulf coast. The scope of the disaster is staggering. This should not threaten the entire coast of our country. But beyond that, potentially, if they close the port of New Orleans, you think of the effect on Minnesota, if the oil keeps spreading the effect it will have on other parts of the country. I don’t think the taxpayers of this country should have to pay for that. That is why I support the Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act, which will ensure that the current liability act for a single oil spill will not apply to the gulf coast oil disaster. It will make sure that BP, which flaunted its record profits of $6 billion in the first-quarter of this year alone, that they pay for this. And the taxpayers of this country which are already burdened with the costs of the difficult times of this economy and what wall street has done that they are not stuck with the bill here.”
Senate Democrat Newsroom
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Important vote
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Congress is about to vote on important legislation to create and protect jobs. If the House fails to act now, states will be forced to cut even more services — as well as hundreds of thousands of public employees.
The Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes bill includes additional help for unemployed Americans who still can’t find work in this economy — and would result in $26 billion in badly needed funding for state and local governments, known as FMAP. Without this assistance, states will slash hundreds of thousands of jobs and gut education, health care and public safety services even more.
Click here to call your Congress member. Tell your Representative to vote YES on the Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes bill.
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Repower America
With at least 4 million gallons of oil already poisoning the Gulf Coast and no end in sight for this environmental catastrophe, the alarm bell to end America’s dependence on fossil fuels is ringing and has reached a deafening volume.
We need a strong bill to transition our nation to clean energy — and we need it now.
Yesterday, we reached an important milestone in this fight when Senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman released a draft version of their climate and clean energy proposal.
This is the starting gun for the Senate to craft and pass the strongest possible climate and clean energy legislation.
This week’s proposal is not the only language on the table. Over the last year, a number of other Senators, including Senators Susan Collins and Maria Cantwell, have put forward several proposals that also help end our addiction to fossil fuels. The addition of the Kerry-Lieberman draft proposal is important because it is the final piece of the puzzle — and now it’s time for the Senate leadership to craft the strongest bill possible, drawing out the best from all of the ideas that have been put forth.
The bill language that is finally selected for consideration by the Senate and the priority that it receives in the Senate calendar is driven by the Senate leadership. And how hard they push for this bill, and how strong it will be, will be determined by how much pressure Senators are feeling from us.
This week’s draft proposal from Senators Kerry and Lieberman is not perfect — it does not by itself solve the climate crisis, and there are too many provisions within it that support our continued dependence on fossil fuels, including too few restrictions on offshore drilling. Critically, the proposal does commit the United States to reducing carbon emissions 17% by 2020 and 83% by 2050 from 2005 levels — meeting the commitments President Obama made to the rest of the world at Copenhagen’s climate negotiations last year.
On Monday, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that the Senator is waiting to hear the public reaction to this draft legislation before he decides if climate and clean energy legislation will be a top legislative priority this year.
So we have to make sure our Senators hear from all of us. We cannot afford to wait any longer for climate and clean energy legislation, and we cannot afford weak legislation that won’t get the job done.
Please send an email to your Senators asking them to do everything in their power to ensure that a comprehensive climate and clean energy bill makes it to the floor of the Senate this year, and that this bill is the strongest bill possible.
http://cpaf.repoweramerica.org/senateactionnow
Congress’s failure to lead on climate and clean energy has cost us far too much already. But the first step to a better future is simple: “Bill, Baby, Bill!”
Thanks for making your voice heard at this critical time,
Dave Boundy
Campaign Manager
The Climate Protection Action Fund’s Repower America Campaign
Be a Seed for Change 
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