ThinkProgress Logo

Stories tagged with “Jim Sensenbrenner”

Justice

Anti-Immigrant Republicans Block ‘GOP en Español’ Outreach Program

By Aviva Shen on Feb 11, 2013 at 7:00 pm

After resoundingly losing the Hispanic vote in 2012, Republicans are making their pitch to Hispanic voters. These new efforts range from pushing for immigration reform to Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) plan to deliver the GOP’s State of the Union response in both Spanish and English. However, the House Republican Conference’s new “GOP en Español” initiative to distribute Spanish translations of Republican State of the Union reactions proved to be the last straw for some factions of the party.

Opposition from Rep. Steve King (R-IA), who has sponsored “English-only” legislation to make English the official language of the US, stalled the launch of GOP en Español. In an interview with the National Journal, King explained:

“There’s a conflicting message that comes out from the Republicans if we want to recognize the unifying power of English, and meanwhile, we send out communications in multiple languages. Official business and documents needs to be in English.” [...] He says that English is “empowering and unifying” and that the GOP en Español program “sends a subliminal message in contradiction.”

The English only movement has gained traction in sixteen states, and even more extreme legislation is being considered by some Republican-dominated legislatures. “English only” laws often prohibit state and local government officials, and sometimes private companies, from conducting any business in Spanish or providing translations of certain documents, cutting off the 25.2 million Americans who speak limited English.

Hispanic voters are the fastest growing minority in the US, and supported Obama by 75 percent in the November election. Though some Republicans are trying to change this by pushing for immigration reform and greater tolerance, former Secretary of State Colin Powell (R) blasted his party for “a dark vein of intolerance” that alienates minorities. Past GOP outreach efforts have fallen flat; during the election, the Republican National Committee’s Hispanic outreach site took flack for using a stock photo of Asian children, while multiple candidates’ Spanish language websites either avoided or altered their stances on immigration.

Security

Conservative Congressman Blasts Bachmann’s Anti-Muslim Allegations, Stands Up For Religious Liberty

By Scott Keyes on Jul 23, 2012 at 9:15 am

Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI)

SLINGER, Wisconsin — One of the most conservative congressmen in the country stepped up to defend Huma Abedin, a top aide to Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, and the rights of all Muslim-Americans yesterday against Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-MN) spurious accusations that she is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, calling them “the wrong thing to do.”

During a town hall held by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) on Sunday, a constituent lauded Bachmann’s anti-Muslim witchhunt about a supposed Muslim Brotherhood infiltration of the U.S. government and called on her congressman to support her efforts. Sensenbrenner instead used the opportunity not only to defend Abedin, but to advocate for the larger notion of religious pluralism in America and a separation between church and state.

The longtime Republican congressman went on to praise the Constitution’s ban on religious tests to hold office, saying Thomas Jefferson’s vision “was right.” When the constituent responded with bigoted accusations about Islam, Sensenbrenner countered: “Religion is a personal issue to every one of the people who lives in the United States…And that has been one of the most cherished freedoms that this country has had since it’s beginning”:

SENSENBRENNER: Let me say that I do know Huma Abedin and I think that the comments that were made about her in that letter, whether or not they were taken out of context, were the wrong thing to do… I think the Constitution in saying that there shall never be a religious test for any office of trust and profit under the United States meant that people should not be judged on the basis of their religious beliefs or lack of religious beliefs. That was Thomas Jefferson that put that in the Constitution — I think he was right.

CONSTITUENT: I think that there’s a political ideology that’s a concern in Islam that is concerning and that should be looked at and we should know that this person is not a threat…

SENSENBRENNER: Heidi, Heidi, Heidi, the First Amendment prohibits the government from making a distinction between what is “good religion” and what is “bad religion.” That’s none of the government’s business. Religion is a personal issue to every one of the people who lives in the United States, whether you practice a faith, how you practice a faith, whether you don’t practice a faith, whether you say you’re a member of a faith but don’t practice it, it’s none of the government’s business. And this is the whole issue of religious freedom. And that has been one of the most cherished freedoms that this country has had since it’s beginning.

Watch highlights of the exchange:

That Sensenbrenner, a dyed-in-the-cloth conservative, would stand up to Islamophobic attacks from constituents and colleagues, is both laudable and heartening. Too often in the past, these voices of reason about Islam and religious freedom are only voiced on the left.

Still, Sensenbrenner isn’t the only Republican put off by Bachmann’s bogus charges. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was the first to stand up to Bachmann, calling her allegations “nothing less than an unwarranted and unfounded attack on an honorable citizen.” In addition, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-MI) dropped his support for Bachmann’s witchhunt over the weekend.

Climate Progress

Global Warming is a Litmus Test For US Republicans

By Climate Guest Blogger on Aug 19, 2011 at 9:38 am

by Raymond S. Bradley, director of the Climate System Research Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.  This article was first published in the UK Guardian.

Mitt Romney, arguably the leading Republican candidate for president of the United States in the 2012 election, recently significantly diminished his prospects for obtaining the support he needs from the right wing of his party. How did he do this? He simply declared that he believes the Earth is warming, and that human activities are responsible. To most scientists, such a statement would be considered fairly innocuous, and an accurate assessment of current understanding. But to a large fraction of the US Republican party, this is a completely unacceptable position – ranking alongside gay marriage, gun control and abortion rights. Anthropogenic climate change has become a litmus test for Republicans in the United States.

If you want to appeal to the hard core of the party – those whom you need in order to obtain the party’s nomination – you simply can not acknowledge what almost every national science academy and scientific organization has accepted for many years. In fact, many other prominent Republicans, sensing the winds of retribution, have already back-tracked on whatever previous statements they might have made, if they contained even a whiff of climate reality. Given the importance of getting the United States on board to obtain a comprehensive international agreement on controlling greenhouse gases, this dismissal of scientific evidence about global warming is both sad and alarming.

Climate scientists on the front lines of this battle have suffered badly from the poisonous political atmosphere. Rightwing blogs and talk radio demagogues have promoted the idea that climate science is a worthless charade, where data are simply manipulated to obtain a politically motivated result. Scientists have been abused on blogs and via emails and some have even been physically threatened. Government officials have misused their positions to intimidate and harass prominent scientists, following a strategy of attacking the messenger when they don’t like hearing the message. A leading Republican senator asked the Justice Department to investigate 17 climate scientists (myself included) for committing fraud and other crimes. How have we arrived at this sorry state?

Read more

Health

Sensenbrenner Backs Away From Paul Ryan’s Medicare Privatization Plan

By Igor Volsky on Jun 27, 2011 at 10:05 am

Via Ryan Grim, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) backed away from Paul Ryan’s plan to privatize Medicare during a town hall on Sunday after a 54-year-old constituent expressed concern about losing his guaranteed Medicare benefits:

At age 54, Menomonee Falls resident Paul Race said he just misses the cutoff in U.S. Paul Ryan’s proposal to reform Medicare for those younger than 55.

“If it’s good enough for the people 54 and younger… then I think it’s good enough for people 55 and older,” said Race, a former Marine who has been a teacher for 25 years.

He said under Ryan’s plan he would have to “go shopping to insurance companies” whose administrative costs will be higher than under Medicare and who may be unwilling to cover people with pre-existing conditions.

He predicted he will have to spend a greater share of his retirement funds on health care than will those 55 and older.

Sensenbrenner said, “I’m not here to say he’s (Ryan) right or he’s wrong, but at least he’s got a plan.

Sensenbrenner voted for Ryan’s budget in April and even issued a press release commanding Ryan’s leadership on the issue. “This vote starts an honest debate about getting our spending under control and taking real steps to make that happen through cutting trillions of dollars, reforming the tax code and welfare system, and eliminating wasteful spending. At the same time, it preserves and strengthens the health and retirement programs for those who are currently 55 and older and future retirees,” he said at the time. Now, he is not so sure that it does.

Politics

Major BP Shareholder Rep. Sensenbrenner Says BP Doesn’t ‘Deserve Any Type Of Executive Bonuses’

By Lee Fang on Jul 10, 2010 at 12:00 pm

In June, the AP reported that Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) owns hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of BP stock, according to financial disclosures. Shortly after the spill, Sensenbrenner focused his criticism on President Obama, attacking him for “publicly chastising and threatening BP” when BP “likely wants this resolved more than anyone.”

At a town hall in Saukville, Wisconsin on Tuesday, Sensenbrenner told ThinkProgress that he would not recuse himself from BP-related votes, despite his financial ties to the company. However, Sensenbrenner said BP executives “don’t deserve any type of executive bonuses,” and if he were on the BP corporate board, he would vote against using shareholder money for bonuses this year:

TP: Do you think BP should suspend dividend payments and executive bonuses until the spill is cleaned up? And also, do you think the U.S. government should repeal the special tax breaks given to BP, like the $4 billion in special subsidies that was reported last weekend.

SENSENBRENNER: Well let me say number one, the determination whether to suspend dividend payments or executive bonuses is going to have to be made by the BP board of directors. However BP is a corporation that is not organized by the laws of any state in the United States of America and is a British corporation subject to British corporate law. The point that I would make for issues such as this, there are a lot of pension funds in the United States and elsewhere that have heavily invested in BP stock even though the BP stock has gone down by 50%. [...] If I were on the board of directors of BP, which I am not, you know the bonus depends on how well they do, basically how the bottom line is. The bottom line has tanked so I don’t think they deserve any type of executive bonus. But again, this is the shareholders’ money.

Watch it:

As a laissez faire conservative, Sensenbrenner is unwilling to bring legal pressure to bear on BP, hoping instead that the BP board does the right thing on bonuses. Another major BP shareholder in Congress, Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ), has criticized President Obama’s deepwater drilling moratorium.

Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-LA) has called on BP to suspend its payment of bonuses and instead use that money to help Gulf Coast families who have been victimized by the oil spill.

Switch to Mobile
ThinkProgress Signup Overlay Skip and Continue to ThinkProgress Skip and Continue to ThinkProgress

Sign Up