The Edge: Pivotal Days for Immigration Legislation
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Pivotal Days for Immigration Legislation
We don't know if there will be comprehensive immigration reform by the end of the year. But if there is, we'll know that these days in the middle of June were pivotal.
The Senate is poised to take up the issue and the minority leader, Mitch McConnell, is in no mood to block it. "Now it's time for the Gang of 100 to do its work," he said. For his part, John Boehner is predicting passage, and President Obama stepped in front of the issue today. Surrounded by a tableau of reform supporters—the AFL-CIO's Richard Trumka, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Thomas Donohue, pretty much anyone—the president touted the bill as the vehicle for change. "The time is now," he said.
It's always been risky for the president to speak out, lest he derail the work of all of those bipartisan gangs of legislators crafting their compromises. But we're in a new period where the action goes to the floor and the White House—as well as Boehner and McConnell—have calculated that it makes sense to speak up.
Matthew Cooper
mcooper@nationaljournal.com
TOP NEWS
SIGNIFICANT BARRIERS TO OPEN DEBATE ON SURVEILLANCE, CIVIL LIBERTIES. While both former CIA and Booz Allen Hamilton employee Edward Snowden—who has admitted leaking information on the NSA's domestic surveillance programs—and President Obama have voiced support for a public debate over such programs, several obstacles exist to such a dialogue, The New York Times reports. First, the classified status of the programs at issue renders a public or even congressional debate difficult. Additionally, members of Congress, who have backed legislation empowering the NSA to engage in the surveillance in question, may be loath to challenge the programs now. "The Democrats want to support Obama, and the Republicans supported FISA expansion," said Ohio State University privacy expert Peter Swire. "Both parties face internal tensions on this issue." Read more
A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin said today that the country could potentially grant asylum to NSA leaker Edward Snowden, should he seek it, Reuters reports. "It is impossible [to say] now. No one has applied yet. If he says: I request [political asylum], then we will consider it," said spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Read more
EDWARD SNOWDEN AND THE UNDERGROUND HIGH-TECH ECONOMY. How could a high school dropout pull a six-figure salary in a high-tech field? That's reportedly what NSA leaker Edward Snowden was able to pull off, and National Journal's Brian Fung reports that you no longer have to be an academic genius to work in the science, technology, engineering and math fields, if that were ever the case; people like Snowden are evidence that an ability to do the job often trumps a shiny degree. For every Ph.D. there is another STEM-related job that doesn't call for a bachelor's degree. Read more
In an letter released today, Google asked the Justice Department to publish the number of FISA requests the government makes.
OBAMA: 'MOMENT IS NOW' FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM. In a speech at the White House today, President Obama urged Congress to take action on immigration reform, the Associated Press reports. "Congress needs to act, and that moment is now," Obama said before a gathering in the East Room. "There's no reason Congress can't get this done by the end of the summer," the president said. "There's no good reason to play procedural games or engage in obstruction just to block the best chance we've had in years to address this problem in a way that's fair to middle-class families, business owners, and legal immigrants." Some pro-immigration reform advocates are reacting skittishly to Obama's stumping efforts. Read more
House Speaker John Boehner voiced "real concerns" about the immigration measure today on ABC's Good Morning America, but said, "I think by the end of the year, we could have a bill." Read more
U.S. SABOTAGED AL-QAIDA'S ONLINE MAGAZINE. U.S. intelligence sabotaged an online magazine produced by al-Qaida in an attempt to create confusion, The Washington Post reports. "The operation succeeded, at least temporarily, in thwarting publication of the latest issue of Inspire, the English-language magazine distributed by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. When it appeared online, the text on the second page was garbled and the following 20 pages were blank," The Post reports. It's unclear how the hacking occurred. Read more
THE IMPACT OF OBAMA'S MORNING-AFTER PILL DECISION. The Obama administration is giving up its fight against making one form of emergency contraception available over the counter, a move that affects an ever-increasing share of women and girls, National Journal's Niraj Chokshi reports .The share of women and girls who have turned to emergency contraceptives has been on the rise in recent years, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report in February. Eleven percent—roughly one in nine—women reported having used an emergency contraceptive between 2006 and 2010, up from 4.2 percent in 2002 and 1 percent in 1995, according to the report. More than half had used it once, about one-fourth had used it twice, and fewer than one-fifth reported using it more than that. Read more
REPORT: AMBASSADOR ACCUSED OF PATRONIZING PROSTITUTES. According to a State Department Inspector General's Office report, a U.S. ambassador was investigated for possible patronage of prostitutes and for pedophilia, NBC News reports. According to the draft report, "The agent began his investigation and had determined that the ambassador routinely ditched his protective security detail in order to solicit sexual favors from both prostitutes and minor children." NBC reported that top State Department officials directed investigators to "cease the investigation" into the ambassador. The ambassador, whom NBC did not name, said in a statement: "I am angered and saddened by the baseless allegations that have appeared in the press and to watch the four years I have proudly served in Belgium smeared is devastating." CBS News first reported the allegations. Read more
BILL DALEY LAUNCHES GUBERNATORIAL CAMPAIGN IN ILLINOIS. Former White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley launched a gubernatorial bid in Illinois today, filing the requisite paperwork for fundraising efforts and launching a campaign website. Daley, a Democrat, is mounting a primary challenge against embattled Gov. Pat Quinn. "We need leadership that gets things done. And the people of Illinois can't wait," Daley said in a statement. Daley, 64, also served as Commerce secretary during the Clinton administration and is a member of the Chicago political family that produced two longtime mayors--rather Richard J. Daley and brother Richard M. Daley. Read more
TOMORROW
OBAMA TO BOSTON TO HELP MARKEY. President Obama will be looking to raise some money for the Democratic Party in two states. He is heading to Boston on Wednesday morning to help out Democratic Rep. Edward Markey in his battle against Republican Gabriel Gomez just two weeks before voting in the special Senate race there on June 25. From Boston, he will go to Miami for a Democratic National Committee event in a private home.
DRILLING BILLS GET HOUSE MARKUP. The House Natural Resources Committee holds a markup Wednesday to consider 14 bills, including the package of drilling bills that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., has prioritized for floor action this month. All the measures are likely to pass the GOP-controlled House, but they're dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
BIG GOP NAMES AT CONFERENCE. On Wednesday, law firm BakerHostetler will hold a half-day seminar on tax and health care policy. Speakers include House Speaker John Boehner, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich. Proposals for reforming the way physicians who treat Medicare patients are paid—a permanent "doc fix"—have been a focus this year on both the Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce committees, and they may be a topic of discussion at the seminar, along with entitlement reform.
QUOTABLE
"I don't look at this as being a whistleblower. I think it's an act of treason." –Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said on former NSA contractor Edward Snowden (The Hill)
BEDTIME READING
DID KING INFLUENCE JFK ON BACKING CIVIL RIGHTS? Today marks the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy's Civil-Rights Address, and The Atlantic looks at how Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter From Birmingham Jail" helped shape Kennedy's speech, noting that "in a powerful sense, King and the movement were the authors of the president's oratory." The speech, which took place on June 11, 1963, was a public turnaround from Kennedy's previous hedging on civil rights. Part of Kennedy's change stemmed from the Birmingham protests and a photo taken on May 3 of a German shepherd as it was about to attack an African-American child. Said King in response to Kennedy's speech: "Can you believe that white man not only stepped up to the plate, he hit it over the fence!" Read more
PLAY OF THE DAY
GOOD NEWS! YOU'RE NOT PARANOID. With news of the widespread compilation of telephone data by the National Security Agency and the recent news of the PRISM program, late-night comedians had plenty of material. The Late Show's David Letterman, Late Night's Jimmy Fallon, and The Tonight Show's Jay Leno all took different routes to get into jokes about the program. Leno referenced the new Superman movie, Fallon talked about the meeting between President Obama and Xi Jinping, and Letterman mentioned Sasha Obama's birthday. On The Daily Show, replacement host John Oliver highlighted some of the program's points, noting that the Amish must be feeling "pretty smug" right now about not using cell phones or the Internet. Watch it here
TODAY'S PHOTO GALLERY
WHAT IS GOING ON IN ISTANBUL? Arwa Damon, CNN's senior international correspondent, is wearing a gas mask on live TV. Around her, people are running, tear-gas canisters are flung, fireworks are going off, and buildings are on fire. It's a wild scene, something between the Fourth of July and Tahrir Square. Damon is reporting from Istanbul's Taksim square, where on Tuesday a two-week long environmental protest and demonstration morphed into something much more violent, and indicative of a growing discontent with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. National Journal has some remarkable images from Turkey. See it here
THE QUIRK
SENATE STAFFERS CAN TAKE CLASSES ON SLEEPING, SITTING, AND FORGIVENESS. BuzzFeed rounds up some taxpayer-funded classes Senate staffers can take on good posture at work, how to improve sleep, how to make small talk and how to forgive, among other interesting offerings. Read more
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article misidentified the president of the AFL-CIO. His name is Richard Trumka.
