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House passes bill to ease immigration for military couple

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Independent - Nov. 16 (News) - House passes bill to ease immigration for military coupleThe Washington IndependentAn interesting, albeit limited, bill passed the House yesterday to change part of immigration law to recognize proxy ...House OKs proxy marriage in immigration casesNavyTimes.comMarine widow, child a step closer to coming to USNECNUS House passes Marine Sergeant Michael H. Ferschke, Jr. Memorial ActMaryville Daily TimesKnoxville News Sentinelall 16 news articles »

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House Races to Watch for Immigration Policy

Wed, 03 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Independent - By Elise Foley - Nov. 03 (Opinion) - I mentioned earlier a few of the immigration hawks who are likely to win House seats today, but it’s worth running through some of the other congressional races that could impact how immigration policy plays out in the next two years.

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Obama vs. the GOP on DREAM Act

Mon, 27 Sep 2010 07:24:22 -0700

Washington Independent - Sep. 27 - Obama chided Republicans Saturday for filibustering the defense authorization bill that could have included the DREAM Act and other reform-minded measures like a repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Obama said he hoped Republicans would “come to their senses” on the DREAM Act after the November elections. Which Republicans may come around? In 2007, 12 Republicans [...]

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Immigrants Rights Groups Plan Mobilization Against Republicans

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Independent - Sep. 22 (News) - Immigrants rights groups have made a major push for the DREAM Act, with rallies around the country and scores of calls to senators. Now that a Republican filibuster killed chances of the DREAM Act as part of the defense authorization bill, some immigration reform advocates plan to mobilize against candidates who opposed the DREAM Act [...]

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Immigration Is Down, Enforcement Is Up, but Harsh Rhetoric Remains

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Independent - By Elise Foley - Jul. 26 (Opinion) - The right constantly accuses President Obama of being weak on immigration enforcement, but his administration is actually deporting record numbers of illegal immigrants. Immigration and Customs Enforcement estimates that its deportations this year will increase by nearly 10 percent over the Bush administration’s 2008 total. The agency also has been auditing companies at a rate [...]

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‘Too Young Not to Work but Too Old to Work’

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Independent - By Annie Lowrey - Jun. 17 (News Report) - Experts say that age discrimination is severely compounding the jobs crisis for older workers, although the phenomenon is difficult to quantify or to prove, and remains under-examined by the government. This time, it is not just making it more likely that these workers will be laid off. It is also making it much harder for them to gain new positions.

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Anti-Defamation League Goes After Gen. Petraeus

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Independent - By Spencer Ackerman - Mar. 18 (Comment) - The Anti-Defamation League takes the unexpected step of criticizing Gen. David Petraeus, the widely respected commander of U.S. troops in the Middle East and South Asia, for his recent comments to the Senate Armed Services Committee that lack of progress on Israeli-Palestinian peace sets the “strategic context” for U.S. security fortunes in the region. “Gen. [...]

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GOP Activists Dream of a Massachusetts Upset

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Independent - By David Weigel - Jan. 06 (News Report) - Days after the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling–an icon ever since his performance helped the team win the 2004 World Series–let the word get out that he was considering a run for the seat. Two weeks later, he decided to take a pass. A potentially sensational campaign became a surefire win for the Democrats. When state Attorney General Martha Coakley won the Democratic Party’s nomination, one newspaper reported, matter-of-factly, that she was “poised to replace Kennedy” in the January 19 general election. On Monday, Schilling returned to the fray. He gave his stamp of approval to the less-famous Republican who ended up running for Kennedy’s seat: Scott Brown, a state senator from Wrentham, Mass.

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Anatomy of an Ethics Leak

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Independent - By Mike Lillis - Oct. 30 (News Analysis) - The news that “dozens” of House lawmakers are under scrutiny by ethics investigators — reported last night by The Washington Post — will likely stir a small storm in Washington, particularly on an otherwise quiet Friday when Congress is out of session.

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Senators Slog While Unemployed Suffer

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Independent - By Mary Kane - Oct. 26 (News Report) - A protracted and very partisan Senate skirmish has left hundreds of thousands of jobless Americans without unemployment benefits — an impasse that Democrats leaders are hoping to break this week. They have their work cut out.

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Tea Party Patrons Point New Recruits Toward 2010

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Independent - By David Weigel - Oct. 05 (News Report) - For months, liberal researchers from the Center for American Progress to Firedoglake to the Rachel Maddow Show have pored over the financial records of libertarian tycoon David Koch to see just how deep his influence ran within the Tea Party movement.

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Experts Weigh in on Obama’s Explanation of Iran’s Nuclear Facility

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Independent - By Spencer Ackerman - Sep. 28 (News Report) - Flanked by the French president and the British premier, President Obama on Friday dramatically stated that the “size and configuration” of a previously undisclosed Iranian nuclear facility near the clerical city of Qom make it “inconsistent with a peaceful program.” Several independent experts believe the facility is most likely being constructed to support a nuclear weapons program, especially as Iran’s concealment of it comes after years of nondisclosure and obstruction of inspections. But even those experts believe that the “size and configuration” of the facility does not necessarily mean it could only be used to build an atomic bomb.

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Supreme Court Eyes Decades of Campaign Finance Laws

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Independent - By Daphne Eviatar - Sep. 09 (News Analysis) - The Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear arguments in a case that could reverse major gains made in recent decades to reduce the influence of corporate money on federal elections. At first blush, Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission appears to

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Feingold Set to Oppose Further Troop Boost for Afghanistan

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Independent - By Spencer Ackerman - Aug. 05 (News Report) - “I don’t think the case has been effectively made for continuing to send more and more troops into Afghanistan,” Feingold said in a Wednesday interview. “I am very unhappy with the answers I’ve received about the issue of whether constantly increasing troops is helping the situation in Pakistan or making it worse. I suspect it could be making things worse.” Feingold fears that increasing troops in Afghanistan might lead insurgents to cross the border into Pakistan, which is engaged in its own fight against a distinct but affiliated insurgency,

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Gun Rights Advocates Hope to Flip Red-State Dems on Sotomayor

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Independent - By David Weigel - Jul. 14 (News Report) - For Republicans and many movement conservatives, the key moment of the first day of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings was not the blistering opening statement of Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee who bulldozed through the most controversial parts of her record. It was the jokey, resigned statement of Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.), who regretted that President Barack Obama had given the Senate a candidate who could not be stopped.

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Republicans Test 2010 Message: Cancel the Stimulus

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Independent - By Dave Weigel - Jul. 11 (Special Report) - The day after President Obama signed the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) took to the airwaves to offer voters a different kind of new deal. “If the American people will let the Republicans back in charge,” said Gohmert on the Feb. 19 episode of Sean Hannity’s Fox News show, “the 60 percent of this bill that won’t be spent until after the next election, we’ll cut it off and let it go to the Americans.”

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Obama’s Sideline Strategy May Signal Shift in U.S. Democracy Policy

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Independent - By Spencer Ackerman - Jun. 19 (News Report) - It turned out money couldn’t buy a revolution. After the 2005 election of hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Bush administration sought about $75 million from Congress with which it hoped to recruit or support alternative voices in Iran to push the Islamic Republic in a more democratic direction. While dissidents in Iran were significantly weaker than during the 1999 student protests — a squelched moment of apparent liberalism that The Economist wrote could be a “second revolution” — there were still prominent voices for reform, like Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi and journalist Akbar Ganji. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who ultimately got around $66 million from Congress, said the money would go to “a new effort to support the aspirations of the Iranian people.”

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Supreme Court Detainee Decision May Not Block Suits Against Top Officials

Wed, 20 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Independent - By Daphne Eviatar - May. 20 (News Report) - In denying the right of a Muslim Pakistani immigrant to sue former Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI director Robert Mueller for his prolonged imprisonment and harsh treatment based on his religion and national origin, the Supreme Court on Monday raised the bar for plaintiffs seeking to sue high-level government officials for policies carried out by their subordinates.

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School of Hock

Fri, 01 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Independent - By Martha C. White - May. 01 (Opinion) - With a growing number of college grads finding themselves crushed under the weight of their student loan debt, the Obama administration is considering action that could derail the entire student loan industry. Groups who monitor campaign contributions, though, worry that the strength of the industry could block any shot at real change.

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Big Break From Bush on ‘State Secrets’ Unlikely Under Obama

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Independent - By Daphne Evitar - Apr. 11 (News Analysis) - In an interview that aired Wednesday night on the CBS Evening News, Attorney General Eric Holder suggested to Katie Couric that the Obama administration is unlikely to depart dramatically from the Bush administration’s position on the use of the state secrets privilege, noting just one case out of about 20 currently under review in which the Justice Department is seriously considering changing its stance. He did not say which case that was.

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AIG Contracts Provide No Escape From Bonus Fury

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Independent - By Daphne Eviatar - Mar. 20 (News Analysis) - The AIG bonus scandal probably won’t lead to any forced return of those bonuses after all. Instead, what emerged from the House Financial Services Committee hearing on AIG’s payment of $165 million in bonuses to executives was that there probably isn’t a legal way to avoid paying those bonuses now.

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Conservative Think Tank Adjusts to Tough Times

Sat, 14 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Independent - By David Weigel - Mar. 14 (Special Report) - These are trying times for most Washington, D.C. think tanks. Since the financial crisis began, the corporate and philanthropic foundations and donors who gird most think tanks have become stingier about their grants. In the case of AEI, the economic downturn has meant cutting back one prestige product and trimming some minor costs and low-level staff. AEI Outlooks are sent around digitally, instead of printed out en masse. Several long-time scholars have left for more complicated reasons. “I wouldn’t hear anything,” said one former staffer, “and then I’d notice that a name was off a door, or a scholar’s profile had been taken down from the web site.”

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Future of Public Diplomacy Unsettled at State

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Independent - By Spencer Ackerman - Feb. 19 (News Report) - As President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton near an announcement of a top State Department official to promote the United States’s image abroad, some veterans of the public diplomacy field wonder if the administration views job as a national security position or a public relations one.

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Immigration Fight Simmered During Stimulus Negotiations

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Independent - By Daphne Eviatar - Feb. 12 (News Report) - Among the many provisions of the $800–plus billion stimulus bill that were hotly debated and horse-traded behind closed doors, one that remained largely under the radar through the negotiations would have forced employers receiving stimulus money to use a controversial federal computer system to verify that all of its employees are legal U.S. workers. Although preliminary indications are that the requirement did not make it into the final version, the battle over E-Verify is far from over.

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The Triumph of Blue Patriotism

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Independent - By Jefferson Morley - Jan. 21 (Opinion) - When Barack Obama took the stage at the We Are One concert at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday, he signaled not only the arrival of a new administration to Washington but the arrival of a patriotism that looks new but isn’t.

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