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NEWS FLASH

Sen. Grassley: GOP Will Not Filibuster VAWA | The GOP is not going to filibuster the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) told Roll Call today. “‘We’re not going to extend this debate,’ Grassley said. ‘There won’t be a cloture vote necessary, and they’ll surely let us have a vote on our substitute.’” The GOP has come up with their own version of the bill, which strips the added protections for Native American, LGBT, and undocumented victims of domestic violence. But with 61 cosponsors in the Senate, the bill with all of its provisions will likely pass. Sen. Grassley continued: “Violence against women except for these additions is noncontroversial. I’m afraid what they’re doing here is they want a political issue — you know, ‘war on women’ — and they are going to end up with another one-year extension.” The real fight is likely to be in the House of Representatives, where VAWA has been hotly debated and enjoyed very little Republican, or male, support.

Alyssa

Anniversary

By Alyssa Rosenberg on Apr 18, 2012 at 6:07 pm

A year ago today, I joined the ThinkProgress family. It’s been such a treat hanging out with old friends here and getting to make new ones. Thank you for all the conversations, emails, ideas, suggestions, and arguments. I hope you’ve been having even a fraction of the fun that I have. And to celebrate, here’s a summer jam:

Justice

Sen. Feinstein Places Hold On NRA Concealed Carry Bill

By Ian Millhiser on Apr 18, 2012 at 5:30 pm

Last month, even after news of Trayvon Martin’s shooting broke nationally, 29 conservative senators introduced a bill that would have allowed Martin’s shooter George Zimmerman to carry a concealed firearm in nearly any state before he was arrested. The bill, which has the strong support of the NRA, allows anyone who has a concealed carry permit from any state to carry a concealed weapon in virtually any state, no matter how lax the laws are in the state where the permit was issued. Florida, for example, refused to take away Zimmerman’s concealed carry permit for weeks after he shot and killed Martin.

In a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Judiciary Chair Pat Leahy (D-VT) yesterday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein placed a hold on this and a related bill:

These dangerous bills — which are opposed by leading law enforcement organizations — would undermine states’ rights by forcing nearly every state to accept the concealed-carry permits issued by other states, even if the permit holder could not qualify for a permit in the state to which he is traveling. By this letter, I respectfully place a hold on these bills and request that you do not allow them to be considered on their own or as an amendment to other legislation . . . .

In recent weeks, our nation have witnessed tragic gun violence in Sanford, Florida and in Oakland, California, which is only a short drive from my home. Notably, George Zimmerman, the man who shot and killed 17 year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, had been issued a concealed carry permit under Florida law, even though he had previously been subject to a court order for domestic abuse of his ex-fiancee. Congress should heed the warnings of law enforcement and not force states to recognize the permits issued to individuals in other states.

Now that Feinstein crossed the gun lobby, she is all but certain to be barraged with attacks claiming she is the enemy of the Second Amendment. But if that is true, then so is Republican Justice Antonin Scalia. As Scalia established in D.C. v. Heller “the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited,” and laws regulating or even prohibiting concealed carry are entirely consistent with the Second Amendment.

Economy

President Obama’s Mortgage Fraud Working Group Has Struggled To Get Off The Ground

By Pat Garofalo on Apr 18, 2012 at 5:30 pm

Last month, McClatchy reported that the Obama administration’s oil speculation task force had met just a “handful” of times, doing basically nothing to stop the rampant speculation that is helping push up gas prices. And evidently that is not the only task force having a hard time getting off the ground.

According to Mike Gecan and Arnie Graf of the Metro Industrial Areas Foundation, part of the nation’s largest network of multi-faith community organizations, President Obama’s mortgage fraud task force — which was announced during this year’s State of the Union and is headed by New York Attorney General Eric Schneidermann (D-NY) — still has “no office, no phones, no staff, and no executive director”:

On March 9 — 45 days after the speech and 30 days after the announcement — we met with Schneiderman in New York City and asked him for an update. He had just returned from Washington, where he had been personally looking for office space. As of that date, he had no office, no phones, no staff and no executive director. None of the 55 staff members promised by Holder had materialized. On April 2, we bumped into Schneiderman on a train leaving Washington for New York and learned that the situation was the same.

Tuesday, calls to the Justice Department’s switchboard requesting to be connected with the working group produced the answer, “I really don’t know where to send you.” After being transferred to the attorney general’s office and asking for a phone number for the working group, the answer was, “I’m not aware of one.”

Last week, Reuters reported that “the task force has identified” office space and is planning a move there shortly:

The task force includes the Justice Department, the SEC, the FBI and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, among others. It is charged with investigating the pooling and sale of home loans that contributed to the financial crisis.

While the group faced some skepticism, considering the crisis began nearly five years ago, there are signs it is serious about bringing cases.

The co-chairs meet formally every week and talk almost every day to coordinate on “a range of investigations,” a Justice Department official said, on condition of anonymity.

About 50 staff members are working on the effort, and the task force has identified separate office space in Washington and will move some personnel there, the official said.

The Justice Department last month posted a one-year position of full-time coordinator for the working group who could help manage discovery and coordinate investigations, according to the job posting.

A recent report showed that mortgage foreclosure scams have spiked 60 percent in 2012, while the nation’s biggest banks continue to sit upon a slew of fraudulent mortgage documents. A recent investigation of foreclosures in San Francisco found that nearly all of them had legal problems or suspicious documents, prompting the city council to suggest a foreclosure moratorium.

Update

The title has been changed to reflect Reuters’ reporting that dedicated office space and staff are in the process of being established.

NEWS FLASH

Speaker Boehner ‘Hasn’t Thought Much’ About Advancing ENDA | After refusing to sign an executive order that would protect employees of federal contractors from anti-LGBT discriminators, the Obama administration claimed that the “time is right” for a legislative solution, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). But House Speaker John Boehner (R) today claimed, “I haven’t seen the bill. I haven’t thought much about it.” Nine out of ten voters believe that the LGBT community already has federal employment protections, which is surely why Boehner didn’t want to sound opposed to the bill, but it’s unlikely ENDA could ever advance in Congress as long as Republicans control the House.

Security

House GOP: Cut Programs For Low, Mid-Income Americans To Protect Wasteful Military Spending

By Ben Armbruster on Apr 18, 2012 at 5:11 pm

CAP’s Melissa Boteach, Lawrence Korb and Max Hoffman report today on how House Republicans are asking low- and middle-income families to sacrifice health care and basic services to preserve redundant defense systems. They note that the Republican controlled Ways and Means Committee recently proposed $68 billion in cuts and tax increases for low- and middle-income Americans in order to “protect” military spending cuts that would occur in January 2013 because last year’s debt deal. The chart below provides a side-by-side comparison:

“We can make strategic cuts to our defense budget without undermining our national security, including reducing our nuclear stockpile while sustaining a credible deterrent and making more effective weapons purchases,” the report states. “In fact, the Center for American Progress has found more than $500 billion in Pentagon cuts that could be implemented over the next decade while still maintaining our vast military superiority.”

Climate Progress

Poll: Large Majority Of Americans Understand Global Warming Made Several Major Extreme Weather Events Worse

By Joe Romm on Apr 18, 2012 at 5:00 pm

A new survey finds that by 2-to-1 Americans accurately understand global warming makes a number of extreme weather events worse.

This Yale survey matches a recent Brookings poll that found Americans’ understanding of climate change was increasing with more extreme weather and warmer temperatures. It also matches Yale’s earlier November survey finding.

This finding matches the results of September polling by ecoAmerica:

  • 69% of Americans Know “Weather Conditions (Such as Heat Waves and Droughts) Are Made Worse by Climate Change”
  • 57% of Americans understand “If we don’t do something about climate change now, we can end up having our farmland turned to desert.”

And the public’s understanding certainly matches the science (see “Has Global Warming Caused A Quantum Jump In Extreme Weather?” and links below).

You can find details on the poll at Yale’s website (and the NY Times, which was the source of the above figure). Here are some highlights:

  • 82 percent of Americans report that they personally experienced one or more types of extreme weather or a natural disaster in the past year;
  • 35 percent of all Americans report that they were personally harmed either a great deal or a moderate amount by one or more of these extreme weather events in the past year;
  • Over the past several years, Americans say the weather in the U.S. has been getting worse – rather than better – by a margin of over 2 to 1 (52% vs. 22%);
  • A large majority of Americans believe that global warming made several high profile extreme weather events worse….
  • Only 36 percent of Americans have a disaster emergency plan that all members of their family know about or an emergency supply kit in their home (37%).

This is all the more remarkable because the media and key opinion-makers have all but stopped talking about climate change, so it would be hard for people to be convinced by those two sources.

On the other hand, the American public can’t miss the extreme weather because it is everywhere now and increasingly off the charts — see NOAA Chief: U.S. Record of a Dozen Billion-Dollar Weather Disasters in One Year Is “a Harbinger of Things to Come.” That was especially true last month (see “March Came In Like A Lamb, Went Out Like A Globally Warmed Lion On Steroids Who Smashed 15,000 Heat Records“).

The December 2011 Brookings poll found  all of this extreme weather was  measurably boosting  the number of people who understand the planet is warming:

Read more

NEWS FLASH

Knoxville Advances Non-Discrimination Protections Despite State Prohibition | Last year, Tennessee lawmakers passed the “Special Access to Discriminate” Act, prohibiting municipalities from extending non-discrimination protections beyond what the state already protects. The law targeted protections that Nashville had passed, and now Knoxville is also planning to buck the provision with an LGBT-inclusive ordinance of its own. Last night, the Knoxville City Council voted unanimously, and without discussion, to add sexual orientation and gender identity to its employment protections. The ordinance will become law after it passes a second reading on May 1, but it’s unclear if it will be enforceable under the SAD Act.

Alyssa

Me, Maureen Ryan, and Ryan McGee on ‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘Mad Men,’ and ‘Girls’

By Alyssa Rosenberg on Apr 18, 2012 at 4:37 pm

I know I haven’t written much about Mad Men this season—I think the show’s more likely to result in one big piece than regular check-ins. But I did spend a couple of hours talking to Huffington Post’s Maureen Ryan and the AV Club and HitFix’s Ryan McGee about what feel like the big three shows of the moment last night for their podcast, which is up here. Check it out!

Justice

Florida Investigation Finds ‘Possible Criminal And Ethical Violations’ By Freshman Republican Congressman

By Josh Israel on Apr 18, 2012 at 4:30 pm

Rep. David Rivera (R-FL)

Rep. David Rivera (R-FL)

Investigators at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement identified “possible criminal and ethical violations” by freshman Rep. David Rivera (R-FL). Among these were filing erroneous personal financial reports while a member of the Florida House of Representatives, falsely amending those disclosures after media criticism, and using campaign and government accounts to reimburse his own personal expenses.

The report says:

Analysis of documents obtained to date supports the contention that Mr. Rivera purposely falsified his financial disclosure forms in an attempt to legitimize other source of income beyond his salary as a State Legislator. First, Mr. Rivera provided information on his initial financial disclosure submissions that wasfalse and then amended the forms to remove the information. Second, Mr. Rivera amended his financial disclosure forms claiming that $132,000 received from Millennium Marketing were liabilities (loans), when, in fact, documentary evidence indicates that it was compensation for being employed as a consultant to the Flagler Dog Track for the gaming referendum.

The Miami Herald reported yesterday that state prosecutors will not charge Rivera, as the statute of limitations has expired. IRS and FBI investigations into Rivera’s alleged tax evasion and failure to disclose $132,000 in “loans” from a company co-owned by his mother are reportedly ongoing. Rivera has denied the allegations and his campaign said in statements that Rivera “at all times acted in compliance with both the letter and spirit of Florida and federal campaign finance laws and has timely and properly reported all personal income” and that the investigation was an “unprofessional waste of taxpayer dollars.”

In 2010, now-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) promised that if his party won the majority in the midterm elections, he (as majority leader) ‘institute a zero-tolerance policy‘ on ethics violations. In light of these serious charges, the Republican leadership could show its commitment to this policy by beginning an Ethics Committee investigation, stripping him of his committee assignments, calling for his resignation or even moving to remove him from Congress. It has done none of these things. Even with these apparent ethical breaches, they continue to let Rivera serve on the House Foreign Affairs Committee (and, ironically, its Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee) and the Committee on Natural Resources.

This is yet another in a growing series of examples of just how little Cantor’s promised “zero tolerance” policy for ethical scandals really means.

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