Katie Britt and colleagues call for increased funding for Nonprofit Security Grant Program
On Wednesday, U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Alabama) announced that she has recently joined Senators Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, Cory Booker (D-New Jersey), Jacky Rosen (D-Nevada), and Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia.) in calling for additional funding for FEMA’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) to be included in any supplemental funding package Congress may consider amid heightened concerns about the safety and security of the American Jewish community following this weekend’s attacks on Israel by Hamas and Hezbollah. The NSGP, which is funded through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, provides funding support for target hardening and other physical security enhancements to nonprofit organizations, including synagogues and other places of worship, that are at high risk of terrorist attack. “The barbaric attacks on innocent children, women, and men in Israel are heartbreaking and stomach-turning,” said Senator Britt in a statement. “Now more than ever, we must be unequivocally strong in our response and unreservedly clear in our purpose. As I work with colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the days, weeks, and months ahead to ensure Israel has everything it needs to defend itself with overwhelming force, we must also vigilantly guard against terrorism and the forces of hate here at home. I support robust funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program to help secure our homeland and keep our families, places of worship, and communities safe.” “The horrific images and videos we are seeing out of Israel are unspeakable, and I am doing everything in my power to ensure Israel gets the support it needs to defend itself. As Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security,” said Sen. Murphy. “I am also focused on making sure our Jewish community at home is protected from a potential rise in anti-Semitic threats. As Congress considers emergency supplemental legislation in the coming weeks, we must include increased funding for DHS’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program to help safeguard the Jewish Community here at home.” Booker was in Israel at the time of the attack and experienced the rockets up in the sky raining down while jogging before he was whisked away to a shelter by his staff. “The harrowing images coming out of Israel and the rising toll of confirmed deaths and number of civilians being held hostage by Hamas — including American citizens — are devastating and remind us that we cannot ignore the rise in antisemitism around the world or here at home,” said Sen. Booker. “It’s crucial that we take every precaution to keep all of our religious communities safe. In addition to providing security assistance to Israel, Congress should increase funding for the Department of Homeland Security’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which provides important resources to safeguard nonprofits that are at an increased risk of violence, including Jewish houses of worship and other religious-affiliated groups across the country.” “The hearts of all Americans are shattered after seeing Hamas’s deadly terrorist attacks on Israel,” said Sen. Rosen. “As we witness a surge in antisemitic activity worldwide, we must make sure that Jewish Americans are protected from the threat of antisemitism. As co-chair of the bipartisan Senate Task Force for Combating Antisemitism, I’m working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to increase funding for the life-saving Nonprofit Security Grant Program. This critical funding ensures that synagogues, community centers, and other nonprofits have the resources needed to protect themselves from targeted violence.” “Throughout my time on the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, I have seen and learned about the need so many have for funds through this program,” said Sen. Capito. “Ensuring its inclusion in a supplemental further confirms our commitment to the safety and security for communities of faith, particularly synagogues across the nation that are too often the target of threats.” While Gaza is halfway around the world, Hamas has many supporters worldwide, including in the U.S., as evidenced by the protests that popped up in cities across the U.S. celebrating the Hamas attacks while they were ongoing. The Hamas attacks on Jewish civilians in Israel and the likely Israeli counteroffensive against Hamas and the Gaza Strip may only embolden antisemitism in the U.S. and abroad. In 2019, five men were stabbed at a Hanukkah service in New York. In 2022, an armed man took hostages at a synagogue in Texas. Sen. Britt was elected to the Senate in 2022. She has already visited Israel in her Senate duties. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Katie Britt votes against the Homeland Security Appropriations Act
On Thursday, U.S. Senator Katie Britt, the Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Subcommittee for the Senate Committee on Appropriations, voted against advancing the Fiscal Year 2024 Homeland Security Appropriations Act to the full Senate. During the Appropriations Committee’s markup on Thursday, Senator Britt voiced her concerns with the legislation. “While I have no doubt this bill makes significant strides compared to President [Joe] Biden’s woeful budget request, there is still more that needs to be done to end – rather than manage – the ongoing border crisis,” said Sen. Britt. “On the heels of record encounters, I believe that we must complement the border security technology included in this bill with funding for a physical barrier system along our southern border. After several visits to the border, it is something that I personally believe is a critical tool to keep our homeland safe and secure.” “Despite the Administration admitting it urgently needs an additional 6,000 beds, this bill does not increase the number of ICE detention beds,” Britt continued. “As we all know, there (is $752 million) flowing to different groups – DHS, nongovernmental organizations included to house migrants and move them around the country, and we need answers as to how, and why, and where this money is being spent.” “As I watch the daily encounter numbers continue to increase day after day, yesterday – 6,883, I remain concerned that each of these issues serves as an incentive for people to continue to come here outside the legal pathways,” Britt added. There were some parts of the bill that Britt liked. “I am pleased that the bill funds an increase of more than 1,100 personnel across Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” said Britt. “It also includes significant funding for border security technology. “In addition, fentanyl is the leading cause of death, as you all know, for Americans ages 18 to 45. This bill appropriates over $800 million in new funding to combat the scourge of fentanyl that is poisoning our communities, schools, and families, and destroying too many American lives.” “This bill is a positive step forward in a whole-of-government approach to target the cartels and transnational criminal organizations engaged in fentanyl trafficking, child exploitation, and human smuggling,” Britt said. “Additionally, this bill provides necessary funding to allow the Coast Guard to continue to invest in critical programs like the Offshore Patrol Cutter and to acquire a Commercially Available Icebreaker that will expand our near-term presence in the Arctic to counter the ambitions of Russia and China.” “I remain thankful to Senator Chris Murphy for working with me to secure critical these priorities,” Britt said. This is the first time since 2018 when Richard Shelby chaired the Appropriations Committee, that the U.S. Senate has advanced all 12 of the appropriations bills out of committee and to the Senate floor. “There’s more to do: we still have to get these bills passed through the full Senate, and House, and signed into law—and that is our focus moving forward,” Sens. Patty Murray (D-Washington) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), chairwoman and vice-chairwoman of the committee, respectively, said in a joint statement. “However, what this committee has achieved over the last several weeks shows that it is possible for Congress to work together and work through real differences—to find common ground and produce serious, bipartisan bills that can be signed into law.” “It is a testament to the tremendous leadership and determination of both of you that today marks the milestone of this committee marking up twelve out of twelve appropriations bills,” Britt said during her comments. “This is a significant accomplishment, and no doubt a win for the American people that the appropriations process is proceeding in this fashion. That would not have happened without the leadership of the two of you.” The United States has been operating on a series of often hasty continuing resolutions and omnibus spending bills since 2019. Doing budget deals with House Republicans could prove more difficult than moving them in the Senate. Katie Britt was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2022. Britt has made the border crisis and its role in the drug overdose and human smuggling crisis a key focus of her tenure in the Senate. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Senate votes to keep Joe Biden rule toughening requirements on stabilizing braces for firearms
New rules that require owners to register stabilizing braces for firearms will stay in place after the Senate rejected a Republican effort on Thursday to overturn them. President Joe Biden had promised to veto the resolution overturning the rules if it had passed. In January, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives finalized the new regulations on pistols with stabilizing braces, also called pistol braces, that require owners to register them and pay a fee or remove the braces. The agency found the accessories can make pistols as dangerously powerful and easy to conceal as short-barreled rifles or sawed-off shotguns. The Senate voted 50-49 to reject the resolution, with all Democrats voting against it and all Republicans voting for it. The Republican-led House had passed the resolution earlier this month. The regulation, which went into effect June 1, was one of several steps Biden first announced in 2021 after a man using a stabilizing brace killed 10 people at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado. A stabilizing brace was also used in a shooting in Dayton, Ohio, that left nine people dead in 2019 and most recently in a school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee. Republicans argue that the braces are needed for Americans who have disabilities to be able to shoot guns with one hand. Sen. John Kennedy, the Louisiana Republican who sponsored the resolution, said he believes the regulations are a “backdoor way to subject pistols to more smothering regulations” and create a national gun registry. Democrats said that the country needs more gun regulations, not fewer, as mass shootings proliferate. The GOP effort to overturn the rule was “outrageous and it is completely removed from the conversation that families and kids are having all across the country,” said Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., ahead of the vote. The new rule is also being challenged in several lawsuits by gun owners and state attorneys general who say it violates the Second Amendment by requiring millions of people to alter or register their weapons. In some cases, judges have recently agreed to temporarily block enforcement of the rule for the plaintiffs. Biden mentioned the rule in a speech last week as he urged tougher gun restrictions around the country. This month marks the one-year anniversary of legislation passed by Congress that toughened background checks for the youngest gun buyers, sought to keep firearms from domestic violence offenders, and aimed to help states put in place red flag laws that make it easier to take weapons away from people judged to be dangerous. Biden noted that the pistol brace rule is one of several steps his administration has taken to try and curb gun violence. The braces are essentially turning a gun into a short-barreled rifle, he said, “which has been a weapon of choice by a number of mass shooters.” Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
Sen. Katie Britt concerned about growing mental health crisis in America
On Tuesday, U.S. Senator Katie Britt said there is a growing mental health crisis in America. Britt’s comments were made during a recent hearing of the Subcommittee for Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies of the Senate Committee on Appropriations. In the hearing, Sen. Britt questioned the top leadership from the National Institute of Health (NIH) about the staggering, rising rates of depression and suicide among America’s teenagers. “When you look at what is happening, it is clear that NIH has also identified this crisis as being one that is plaguing communities across this great nation,” Britt said. “The White House in 2023, the Mental Health Research Priorities, those even showed they speak to digital platforms in terms of their effectiveness to treat mental and behavioral health outcomes. However, there are plenty of NIH studies that show how social media and screen time likely have a negative effect on mental health, particularly youth mental health.” “Now let me tell you something, as a Mama of a 13-year-old and a 14-year-old, this is something that is particularly important to me,” Britt said. “I look at how young people are having to grow up. I know, as someone who went through middle school and high school as a young woman, that it’s tough. I can’t even imagine the additional pressures that they feel, given having a screen at their fingertips all of the time. “ “I think the reports are shocking, and I don’t think the numbers lie,” Britt said. “Last year, 1 in 3 high school girls said that they seriously considered suicide. And actually, one in nine, or almost nine percent – one in ten high school students reported actually attempting suicide in the last twelve months. Folks, I ran for the Senate as a mama on a mission. I said that my children and other people’s children and grandchildren should be able to achieve the American dream. If we do not take hold of what is happening right now with social media and our youth, it is going to be so far gone that we can’t get it back. My question to you is: what is the NIH doing to address the damage of social media and what it is having on our children and our children’s mental health?” Between 2011 and 2019, the rate of depression more than doubled for American teenagers as social media use increased. Dr. Joshua Gordon, M.D., is the Director of the National Institutes of Mental Health. “Not just depression, but suicide deaths have been dramatically increasing in children and children that are younger than those who used to typically die,” said Dr. Gordon. “So, we’re seeing dramatic increases in the rates for pre-teens, which is incredibly disturbing.” On April 26, Sen. Britt introduced the Protecting Kids on Social Media Act alongside Senators Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), and Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) to help empower families and protect children from the harmful impacts of social media. “It is bipartisan,” Britt stated. “It prohibits children from under the age of 13 from using social media, which is consistent with what social media companies say that they already do. It requires a parent or guardian’s permission for children ages 13 to 17 to create an account, so very simple, and the last thing is it requires social media companies to verify that quickly. It also does not allow them to utilize algorithms against our children. So between 13 and 17, when they are on social media, they would not be able to be targeted by algorithms to push them into what we know are so many deep, dark holes. I am hopeful that this body will actually do something to put parents back in the driver’s seat and to protect our children. I will tell you they are counting on us.” May is Mental Health Awareness Month. People or families struggling or in crisis can call or text 988 or go to the website 988lifeline.org for help. Katie Britt was elected in 2022. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Katies Britt joins bipartisan group of colleagues questioning Federal Reserve’s actions in Silicon Valley Bank crisis
On Monday, U.S. Senator Katie Britt joined Senators Kyrsten Sinema, Thom Tillis, and a bipartisan group of Senators questioning the Federal Reserve its’ oversight of troubled Silicon Valley Bank before the bank’s failure. The Sens. claim that the Federal Reserve missed clear warning signs – including bank leadership’s failure to appropriately manage customer deposits. That it missed as part of its responsibilities to conduct oversight and examinations ahead of Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse. “SVB is a clear case of regulators refusing to do their job despite the fact that all of the red flags were there,” said Sen. Britt. “The Fed failed to use the tools in their toolbox to prevent what we saw in recent weeks, and I want to know why. Alabamians don’t just want answers, they deserve answers. And I, for one, will not stop until we get them.” “It is gravely concerning that retail participants, utilizing only publicly available information, were able to identify clear and compelling examples of financial mismanagement and asset over-concentration at SVB, while the Fed, which can draw even deeper from non-public supervisory information, was unable to ascertain a similar conclusion,” the Sens. wrote in their letter. “The fact that the San Francisco Fed, among other regulatory agencies, found no reason to take appropriate regulatory action or even investigate SVB further in the months, weeks, and days prior to the bank’s collapse must be addressed in a manner that restores public confidence in Fed supervision.” “Safety and soundness is the cornerstone regulatory principle of the U.S. banking system, and it is important we assess what went wrong at SVB to ensure future stability in the U.S. financial services sector. Specifically, we support any efforts that will provide further information on all relevant risks, actions, and inactions – taken by SVB and by regulators, supervisors, and examiners – that contributed to this failure,” the Sens. wrote. “It is gravely concerning that retail participants, utilizing only publicly available information, were able to identify clear and compelling examples of financial mismanagement and asset over-concentration at SVB, while the Fed, which can draw even deeper from non-public supervisory information, was unable to ascertain a similar conclusion. The fact that the San Francisco Fed, among other regulatory agencies, found no reason to take appropriate regulatory action or even investigate SVB further in the months, weeks, and days prior to the bank’s collapse must be addressed in a manner that restores public confidence in Fed supervision. We look forward to evaluating the results of your review, particularly with respect to the robustness of Fed supervision and examination of SVB.” Britt joined Sinema and Tillis in cosigning the letter. Also cosigning were Sens. John Hickenlooper (D-Colorado), Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota), Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut), Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming), Bill Hagerty (R-Tennessee), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nevada), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), and Michael Bennet (D-Colorado). There are media reports that federal regulators knew about the problems at SVB for more than a year, and yet they hesitated to act. The Wall Street Journal reported that federal bank regulators knew Silicon Valley Bank was a troubled bank as early as 2019. In 2021, the Federal Reserve cautioned the bank about significant vulnerabilities in the bank’s containment of risk. SVB had a uniquely concentrated customer base of venture capital funds, venture investors, and start-ups, many of whom have or have had financial relationships or business partnerships with one another. That customer base includes a significant level of financial interdependency that potentially increased risk. The Fed identified the risks to the bank, yet SVB did nothing to mitigate any of the risks. The Federal Reserve has already announced an internal investigation into its regulatory oversight, supervision, and examination of Silicon Valley Bank. The Senators urged that as part of this investigation, the Fed should focus on the role of concentration risk in the bank examination process and review the financial arrangements between Silicon Valley Bank and its customers to determine their impact on the bank’s collapse. Katie Britt is a member of the Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Joe Guzzardi: Clock ticking on Alejandro Mayorkas; House files impeachment articles
The 118th Congress had barely convened before the Senate’s amnesty addicts traveled to the border and began pontificating about the bipartisan immigration action they were about to embark upon. Whenever Congress touts bipartisanship as it relates to immigration, the sub rosa message is that amnesty legislation, which Americans have consistently rejected, is percolating. Neither amnesty’s failed history – countless futile efforts since the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act – nor the Republican-controlled House of Representatives stopped determined Senators Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), Mark Kelly, (D-Ariz.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.). Tillis tipped off the group’s hand when he said, “It’s not just about border security; it’s not just about a path to citizenship or some certainty for a population.” One of those populations would be the “Dreamers,” with a 20-year-long failed legislative record. Sinema took advantage of the border trip to promote her failed amnesty, her leftovers from the December Lame Duck session, a three-week period when radical immigration legislation usually finds a home. Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) tweeted that “our immigration system is badly broken…” drivel that’s been repeated so often it’s lost whatever meaning it once may have had. The immigration system is “badly broken,” to quote Coons, because immigration laws have been ignored for decades. Critics laughingly call the out-of-touch, border-visiting senators the “Sell-Out Safari.” Coons’ tweet is classic duplicity. Coons, Sinema, Kelly, and Murphy have consistently voted against measures to enforce border security and against fortifying the interior by providing more agents and by giving more authority to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Republicans Tillis and Cornyn are also immigration expansionists. Tillis worked with Sinema on her unsuccessful Lame Duck amnesty. Cornyn sponsored, with Sinema and Tillis as cosponsors, the “Bipartisan Border Solutions” bill that would have built more processing centers to expedite migrants’ release and to create a “fairer and more efficient” way to decide asylum cases. The bill, which never got off the ground, would have rolled out the red carpet to more prospective migrants at a time when the border is under siege. The good news is that the border safari, an updated version of the 2013 Gang of Eight that promoted but couldn’t deliver an amnesty, was a cheap photo op that intended to reflect concern about the border crisis when, in fact, the senators’ voting records prove that the invasion doesn’t trouble them in the least. More good news is that Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the new Speaker of the House, represents enforcement proponents’ best chance to move their agenda forward since 2007 when Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) first held the job. Republicans John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) followed Pelosi from 2011 to 2019 when Pelosi returned as Speaker. Although Boehner and Ryan are Republicans, their commitment to higher immigration levels was not much different than Pelosi’s. Boehner and Ryan received 0 percent scores on immigration, meaning that they favor looser immigration enforcement and more employment-based visas for foreign-born workers. Also in McCarthy’s favor is the public support for tightening the border. Polls taken in September 2022 showed that a majority of Americans, including 76 percent of Republicans and 55 percent of Independents, thought President Joe Biden should be doing more to ensure border security. Moreover, a plurality of Americans opposes using tax dollars to transport migrants, a common practice in the Biden catch-and-release era. McCarthy must become more proactive and make good on his November call for the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to resign or face impeachment. “He cannot and must not remain in that position,” McCarthy said. “If Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas does not resign, House Republicans will investigate every order, every action, and every failure to determine whether we can begin an impeachment inquiry.” McCarthy has the backing of the Chairmen of the Judiciary and Oversight Committees, Jim Jordan and James Comer. On January 9, Pat Fallon (R-Texas) filed articles of impeachment that charged Mayorkas with, among other offenses, “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Mayorkas insists he won’t resign and that he’s prepared for whatever investigations may come his way. Assuming the House presses on, and that the DHS secretary remains committed to keeping his post, Capitol Hill fireworks are assured, the fallout from which could lead to Mayorkas’ departure. Joe Guzzardi is a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist who writes about immigration and related social issues. Joe joined Progressives for Immigration Reform in 2018 as an analyst after a ten-year career directing media relations for Californians for Population Stabilization, where he also was a Senior Writing Fellow. A native Californian, Joe now lives in Pennsylvania. Contact him at jguzzardi@pfirdc.org.
GOP, Dem Senate bargainers divided over gun deal details
Democratic and Republican senators were at odds Thursday over how to keep firearms from dangerous people as bargainers struggled to finalize details of a gun violence compromise in time for their self-imposed deadline of holding votes in Congress next week. Lawmakers said they remained divided over how to define abusive dating partners who would be legally barred from purchasing firearms. Disagreements were also unresolved over proposals to send money to states that have “red flag” laws that let authorities temporarily confiscate guns from people deemed dangerous by courts, and to other states for their own violence prevention programs. The election-year talks have seemed headed toward agreement, with both parties fearing punishment by voters if Congress doesn’t react to the carnage of last month’s mass shootings. A total of 31 people were slain at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, and an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. An outline of a deal has been endorsed by President Joe Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, a lead GOP bargainer, seemed visibly unhappy as he left Thursday’s closed-door session after nearly two hours, saying he was flying home. “This is the hardest part because at some point, you just got to make a decision. And when people don’t want to make a decision, you can’t accomplish the result. And that’s kind of where we are right now,” Cornyn said. “I’m not frustrated, I’m done,” he added, though he said he was open to continued discussions. Lawmakers have said a deal must be completed and written into legislative language by week’s end if Congress is to vote by next week. It begins a July 4 recess after that. Leaders want votes by then because Washington has a long record of talking about reacting to mass shootings, only to see lawmakers’ and voters’ interest fade quickly over time. Other bargainers seemed more optimistic, saying much of the overall package has been agreed to and aides were drafting bill language. “A deal like this is difficult,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said when the meeting ended. “It comes with a lot of emotions, it comes with political risk to both sides. But we’re close enough that we should be able to get there.” The measure would impose just small-scale curbs on firearms. It lacks proposals by Biden and Democrats to prohibit assault-style weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines like the ones used in Buffalo and Uvalde, or to raise the legal age for purchasing assault rifles from 18 to 21. Even so, it would be Congress’ most robust move against gun violence since 1993. A ban lawmakers enacted that year on assault weapons took effect in 1994 and expired after a decade. Scores of high-profile mass shootings since have yielded little from Washington but partisan deadlock, chiefly due to Republicans blocking virtually any new restrictions. Federal law bars people convicted of domestic violence against a spouse from acquiring guns, but leaves a loophole for other romantic relationships. Everytown for Gun Safety, which advocates firearms curbs, says 31 states bar convicted domestic abusers from buying firearms, including 19 that cover violent dating partners. Senators have disagreed over how to define such relationships, with Republicans working against a broad provision. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, the other lead GOP negotiator, said bargainers would use some state statutes as their guide, though their laws vary. “You need to make sure that you’re capturing everyone that actually beat” up their girlfriends, said Murphy, a Democrat. In addition, 19 states and the District of Columbia have “red flag” laws. Cornyn and the other lead bargainer, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., represent states that do not, and it is unclear how money in the bill would be divided among them. Senators have not said what the measure’s overall price tag will be, though people following the talks have said they expect it to range around $15 billion or $20 billion. Lawmakers are looking for budget cuts to pay for those costs. Twenty senators, 10 from each party, agreed to the outlines of a compromise measure last weekend. Top bargainers have labored ever since to translate it into details. The framework includes access to the juvenile records of gun buyers age 18 to 20. Both shooters in Buffalo and Uvalde were 18, and both used AR-15 style automatic rifles, which can load high-capacity magazines. The plan also includes added spending for mental health and school safety programs, tougher penalties for gun trafficking, and requirements that slightly more gun dealers obtain federal firearms licenses. Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
Senate negotiators announce a deal on guns, breaking logjam
Senate bargainers on Sunday announced the framework of a bipartisan response to last month’s mass shootings, a noteworthy but limited breakthrough offering modest gun curbs and stepped-up efforts to improve school safety and mental health programs. The proposal falls far short of tougher steps long sought by President Joe Biden and many Democrats. Even so, the accord was embraced by Biden, and enactment would signal a significant turnabout after years of gun massacres that have yielded little but stalemate in Congress. Biden said in a statement that the framework “does not do everything that I think is needed, but it reflects important steps in the right direction and would be the most significant gun safety legislation to pass Congress in decades.” Given the bipartisan support, “there are no excuses for delay, and no reason why it should not quickly move through the Senate and the House,” he said. Leaders hope to push any agreement into law rapidly — they hope this month — before the political momentum fades that has been stirred by the recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas. Participants cautioned that final details and legislative language remain to be completed, meaning fresh disputes and delays might emerge. In a consequential development, 20 senators, including 10 Republicans, released a statement calling for passage. That is potentially crucial because the biggest obstacle to enacting the measure is probably in the 50-50 Senate, where at least 10 GOP votes will be needed to attain the usual 60-vote threshold for approval. “Families are scared, and it is our duty to come together and get something done that will help restore their sense of safety and security in their communities,” the lawmakers said. The group, led by Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., John Cornyn, R-Texas, Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Krysten Sinema, D-Ariz., produced the agreement after two weeks of closed-door talks. The compromise would make the juvenile records of gun buyers under age 21 available when they undergo background checks. The suspects who killed 10 Black people at a grocery store in Buffalo and 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde were both 18, and many perpetrators of recent years’ mass shootings have been young. The agreement would offer money to states to enact and put in place “red flag” laws that make it easier to temporarily take guns from people considered potentially violent, plus funds to bolster school safety and mental health programs. Some people who informally sell guns for profit would be required to obtain federal dealers’ licenses, which means they would have to conduct background checks of buyers. Convicted domestic abusers who do not live with a former partner, such as estranged ex-boyfriends, would be barred from buying firearms, and it would be a crime for a person to legally purchase a weapon for someone who would not qualify for ownership. Congressional aides said billions of dollars would be spent expanding the number of community mental health centers and suicide prevention programs. But they said some spending decisions are unresolved, as are final wording on juvenile records and other gun provisions that might prove contentious. Yet underscoring election-year pressures from Buffalo and Uvalde, the parties’ shared desire to demonstrate a response to those shootings suggested momentum toward enactment was strong. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called the accord “a good first step to ending the persistent inaction to the gun violence epidemic” and said he would bring the completed measure to a vote as soon as possible. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has supported the talks, was more restrained. He praised the bargainers’ work and said he is hoping for a deal that makes “significant headway on key issues like mental health and school safety, respects the Second Amendment, earns broad support in the Senate, and makes a difference for our country.” The agreement was quickly endorsed by groups that support gun restrictions, including Brady, Everytown for Gun Safety, and March for Our Lives, which organized rallies held around the country on Saturday. The National Rifle Association said in a statement that it opposes gun control and infringing on people’s “fundamental right to protect themselves and their loved ones,” but supports strengthening school security, mental health, and law enforcement. The group has long exerted its sway with millions of firearms-owning voters to derail gun control drives in Congress. The agreement represents a lowest common denominator compromise on gun violence, not a complete sea change in Congress. Lawmakers have demonstrated a newfound desire to move ahead after saying their constituents have shown a heightened desire for congressional action since Buffalo and Uvalde, but Republicans still oppose more sweeping steps that Democrats want and Sunday’s agreement omits. These include banning assault-style firearms such as the AR-15 style rifles used in Buffalo and Uvalde or raising the legal age for buying them. AR-15s are popular and powerful semiautomatic weapons that can fire high-capacity magazines and have been used in many of the nation’s highest-profile slaughters in recent years. One of them, the killing of 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, occurred six years ago Sunday. Democrats have also wanted to ban high-capacity magazines and to expand required background checks to far more gun purchases. None of those proposals has a chance in Congress. Highlighting that, the Democratic-controlled House approved sweeping bills this past week barring sales of semiautomatic weapons to people under age 21 and large-capacity magazines and giving federal courts the power to rule when local authorities want to remove guns from people considered dangerous. Currently, only 19 states and the District of Columbia have red-flag laws. Those measures will go nowhere in the Senate, where Republicans can block them. The last major firearms restrictions enacted by lawmakers was the 1994 assault weapons ban, which Congress let expire ten years later. For years, congressional Republicans representing rural, pro-gun voters have blocked robust restrictions on firearms purchases, citing the Constitution’s Second Amendment. Democrats, whose voters overwhelmingly favor gun restrictions, have been reluctant to approve incremental steps that
Joe Biden talks gun control, extremism with New Zealand’s PM Jacinda Ardern
President Joe Biden praised New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Tuesday for her success in curbing domestic extremism and guns as he tries to persuade a reluctant Congress to tighten gun laws in the aftermath of horrific mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York. The long-planned talks between Biden and Ardern centered on trade, climate, and security in the Indo-Pacific, but the two leaders’ starkly different experiences in pushing for gun control loomed large in the conversation. Ardern successfully won passage of gun control measures in her country after a white supremacist gunman killed 51 Muslim worshippers at two Christchurch mosques in 2019. Less than a month later, all but one of the country’s 120 lawmakers voted in favor of banning military-style semiautomatic weapons. Biden told reporters at the start of his meeting with Ardern that he “will meet with the Congress on guns, I promise you,” but the White House has acknowledged that winning new gun legislation will be an uphill climb in an evenly divided Congress. The U.S. president praised Ardern for her “galvanizing leadership” on New Zealand’s efforts to curb the spread of extremism online and said he wanted to hear more about the conversations in her country about the issue. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the two leaders spent part of the meeting discussing “what has been done on gun reform” under Ardern’s watch. Ardern and French President Emmanuel Macron in 2019 launched an effort to work with tech companies on eliminating terrorist and violent extremist content online. Then-President Donald Trump declined to join the effort, but the Biden administration has since joined the Christchurch Call to Action. Biden over the weekend traveled to Uvalde, Texas, to grieve with a community that he said made clear to him they want to see Washington tighten gun laws in the aftermath of the shooting rampage that killed 19 children and two teachers. Biden heard similar calls for an overhaul of the nation’s gun laws earlier this month when he met with families of 10 Black people who were killed in a racist attack at a Buffalo supermarket. Biden and Ardern also discussed a May 15 shooting at a lunch banquet at a Taiwanese church in Laguna Woods, California that killed one person and wounded five others. “The pain is palpable,” said Biden, recalling his anguished conversations Sunday with families of victims of the Texas elementary school shooting. Ardern offered condolences and said she stood ready to share “anything that we can share that would be of any value” from New Zealand’s experience. “Our experience demonstrated our need for gun reform, but it also demonstrated what I think is an international issue around violent extremism and terrorism online,” Ardern told reporters following her more than hour-long meeting with Biden. “That is an area where we see absolutely partnership that we can continue to work on those issues.” It’s unclear what, if anything, from New Zealand could be applicable to the United States, which hasn’t passed a major federal gun control measure since soon after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut that left 26 dead. A bipartisan group of senators held a private virtual meeting Tuesday to try to strike a compromise over gun safety legislation, but expectations remain low. Senators aren’t expected to even broach ideas for an assault weapon ban or other restrictions that could be popular with the public as ways to curb the most lethal mass shootings. Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, who led the session alongside Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., called Tuesday’s talks a “very constructive conversation.” Meanwhile, House Judiciary Committee Jerrold Nadler plans to hold a hearing Thursday on the “Protecting our Kids Act” — a package of eight bills that has almost no hopes of passing the Senate but would serve as a marker in the debate. It includes calls to raise the age limits on semi-automatic rifle purchases from 18 to 21 years old; create a grant program to buy back large-capacity magazines; establish voluntary safe practices for firearms storage, and build on executive measures to ban bump stock devices and so-called ghost guns made from 3-D printing. Ardern, in comments to reporters, said the two countries’ political systems are “very different.” Speaking of the Christchurch shooting, she said that “in the aftermath of that, the New Zealand public had an expectation that if we knew what the problem was, that we do something about it. We had the ability with actually the near-unanimous support of parliamentarians to place a ban on semiautomatic military-style weapons and assault rifles and so we did that. But the New Zealand public set the expectations first and foremost.” The New Zealand prime minister did not urge any particular course of action to Biden during their talks but expressed a broad understanding of what the United States is going through, according to a senior Biden administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversation. Ardern last week, during a speech at Harvard University’s commencement, spoke to the scourge of disinformation that is spread and amplified on social media. She said it represents a threat to fragile democracies. The Christchurch gunman was radicalized online. The attack, like the Buffalo supermarket rampage, was live-streamed on social media, she noted. “The time has come for social media companies and other online providers to recognize their power and act on it,” she said at Harvard. Biden’s talks with Ardern came after he made his first visit to Asia last week, a trip to Japan and South Korea meant to highlight his administration’s efforts to put greater focus on the Indo-Pacific. In Japan, Biden launched the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, a new trade pact forged with 14 Pacific allies, including New Zealand. The U.S. sees the pact as an alternative to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which moved forward without the U.S. after Trump pulled out. Ardern said she reiterated her commitment to TPP even as New Zealand has joined the new U.S.-launched Indo-Pacific
Kamala Harris positive for COVID-19, Joe Biden not a ‘close contact’
Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, the White House announced, underscoring the persistence of the highly contagious virus even as the U.S. eases restrictions in a bid to return to pre-pandemic normalcy. Neither President Joe Biden nor first lady Jill Biden was considered a “close contact” of Harris in recent days, said the vice president’s press secretary, Kirsten Allen. Harris had been scheduled to attend Biden’s Tuesday morning Presidential Daily Brief but was not present, the White House said. She had returned Monday from a weeklong trip to the West Coast. The last time she saw Biden was the previous Monday, April 18. “I have no symptoms, and I will continue to isolate and follow CDC guidelines,” Harris tweeted. “I’m grateful to be both vaccinated and boosted.” Biden phoned her Tuesday afternoon to make sure she “has everything she needs” while working from home, the White House said. Harris, 57, received her first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine weeks before taking office and a second dose just days after Inauguration Day in 2021. She received a booster shot in late October and an additional booster on April 1. Fully vaccinated and boosted people have a high degree of protection against serious illness and death from COVID-19, particularly from the most common and highly transmissible omicron variant. Harris’ diagnosis comes a month after her husband, Doug Emhoff, recovered from the virus, as a wave of cases of the highly transmissible omicron subvariant has spread through Washington’s political class, infecting Cabinet members, White House staffers, and lawmakers, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., tested positive on Tuesday. Allen said Harris would follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines “and the advice of her physicians.” It was not immediately clear whether she is being prescribed any antiviral treatments. The White House has put in place strict COVID-19 protocols around the president, vice president, and their spouses, including daily testing for those expected to be in close contact with them. Biden is tested regularly on the advice of his physician, the White House has said and last tested negative on Monday. “We have a very, very contagious variant out there,” said White House COVID-19 coordinator Dr. Aashish Jha on Tuesday. “It is going to be hard to ensure that no one gets COVID in America. That’s not even a policy goal.” He said the administration’s goal is to make sure people don’t get seriously ill. Jha added that despite the precautions, it is possible that Biden himself will come down with the virus at some point. “I wouldn’t say it’s just a matter of time, but of course, it is possible that the president, like any other American, could get COVID,” he said. “There is no 100% anything.” Psaki said she “would not expect” any changes to White House protocols. After more than two years and nearly a million deaths in the U.S., the virus is still killing more than 300 people a day in the U.S., according to the CDC. The unvaccinated are at far greater risk, more than twice as likely to test positive and nine times as likely to die from the virus as those who have received at least a primary dose of the vaccines, according to the public health agency. Harris’ diagnosis comes as the Biden administration is taking steps to expand availability of the life-saving COVID-19 antiviral treatment Paxlovid, reassuring doctors that there is ample supply for people at high risk of severe illness or death from the virus. Paxlovid, when administered within five days of symptoms appearing, has been proven to bring about a 90% reduction in hospitalizations and deaths among patients most likely to get severe disease. In addition to her husband’s diagnosis, Harris was identified as a “close contact” after her communications director tested positive on April 6. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines “close contact” with an infected person as spending 15 minutes or more with them over a 24-hour period. The CDC says people with “close contact” do not need to quarantine if they are up to date on their vaccines but should wear well-fitting masks around other people for 10 days after the contact. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Joe Biden targets law-breaking gun dealers in anti-crime plan
President Joe Biden announced new efforts Wednesday to stem a rising national tide of violent crime, declaring the federal government is “taking on the bad actors doing bad things to our communities.” But questions persist about how effective the efforts can be in what could be a turbulent summer. Crime rates have risen after plummeting during the initial months of the coronavirus pandemic, creating economic hardship and anxiety. Biden’s plan focuses on providing money to cities that need more police, offering community support, and most of all cracking down on gun violence and those supplying illegal firearms. “These merchants of death are breaking the law for profit,” Biden said. “If you willfully sell a gun to someone who’s prohibited, my message to you is this: We’ll find you, and we’ll seek your license to sell guns. We’ll make sure you can’t sell death and mayhem on our streets.” But there are also tricky politics at play, and Biden’s plan shows how few options the Democratic president has on the issue. The steps he outlined are aimed at going hard after gun dealers who break federal law and establishing strike forces in several cities to help stop weapons trafficking. He also said he would seek more money for the agency that tracks the nation’s guns. But the rest of his new strategy boils down mostly to suggestions for beleaguered localities. He’s encouraging cities to invest some of their COVID-19 relief funds into policing and pushing alternative crime reduction steps such as increased community support and summer jobs for teenagers — often both targets and perpetrators of violence. But it’s voluntary. The president has been clear that he is opposed to the “defund the police” movement, which has been effectively used against other Democrats to cast them as anti-law enforcement. “This is not a time to turn our backs on law enforcement,” said Biden, who noted that “crime historically rises during the summer, and as we emerge from this pandemic, the traditional summer spike may be even more pronounced than it usually would be.” But he’s also is trying to boost progressives’ efforts to reform policing, following a year of demonstrations and public anguish sparked by the killing by police of George Floyd and other Black people across the country. While combating crime and overhauling the police don’t have to be at odds, the two efforts are increasingly billed that way. Biden will try to do both at once. But Republicans quickly tried to portray his measures as government overreach and linked them to efforts to rein in policing. “I think a lot of it ties back to this whole ‘defund the police’ movement and some of the disruption we had in civil society last year,” Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts said on Fox News. “And I think that’s part of when you start undermining that basic foundation, you start breaking apart the bonds that hold us together, and that’s why you see an increase in crime.” Biden announced a “zero tolerance” policy that would give no leeway to gun dealers who fail to comply with federal law — their licenses to sell would be revoked on a first offense. The president has already announced a half-dozen executive actions on gun control, including going after “ghost guns,” homemade firearms that lack serial numbers for tracking and often are purchased without background checks. A number of anti-crime and gun safety groups, including the Brady Campaign and Everytown for Gun Safety, applauded the administration’s efforts. “The president is helping start a much-needed conversation about reducing violent crime. A greater investment in community interventions will help take a bite out of violent crime,” said Paul DelPonte, head of the National Crime Prevention Council. “Strategies that increase public engagement in public safety are proven crime stoppers. Putting more police officers who are trained and certified in crime prevention on the streets of our communities makes sense.” Legislation to expand background checks has so far stalled in the Senate after the House passed it in March, even though Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed then that the Senate would hold a vote on the bill. Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy has been negotiating for weeks with individual Republicans to see if there is legislation that could win enough votes for passage. One option is to narrow the scope of the House bill and expand background checks only to commercial sales like gun shows. Most Republicans oppose regulating private sales between individuals, as the House bill would do, but some have said they would support tougher regulation of gun shows. Biden will seek increased transparency on gun data and better coordination among states, and he will push Congress for more money for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the agency responsible for enforcing federal gun laws and regulating gun dealers. The Justice Department is also launching strike forces in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., to help take down illegal gun traffickers. Police officials have said they are struggling with increasing crime and continued tensions between police and communities; some say their calls for support aren’t answered as they take the blame for the spike. Biden noted that $350 billion of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package can be used by cities to hire law enforcement officers, pay overtime, prosecute gun traffickers and invest in technology to make law enforcement more efficient. While crime is rising — homicides and shootings are up from the same period last year in Chicago; Los Angeles; Minneapolis; Portland, Oregon; Baltimore; Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Houston — violent crime overall remains lower than it was a decade ago or even five years ago. Most violent crimes plummeted during the first six months of the coronavirus pandemic, as people stayed indoors and away from others, then started creeping up last summer. It all comes against the backdrop of the national debate on policing and racism — and as a police reform bill is being crafted in Congress. As a senator, Biden wrote several major anti-crime packages,
Voting bill showdown looms as GOP rejects Manchin plan
The Senate is set for a key vote Tuesday on a sweeping rewrite of voting and election law, setting up a dramatic test of Democratic unity on a top priority that Republicans are vowing to block. Democrats appeared to be coalescing Thursday around changes to the bill that could win the support of moderate West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, the lone Democratic holdout on the legislation. Yet, they still faced lockstep Republican opposition that will likely leave Democrats back where they started: lacking the votes to overcome a Republican filibuster. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called Manchin’s proposal “equally unacceptable.” “Republicans are digging in their heels,” said Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut. “They’ve made it pretty clear this week that there’s nothing they’re willing to support.” The bill, known as the For the People Act, has been touted as Democrats’ answer to a state level-GOP push to enact voting restrictions following the 2020 election. It passed the House in March but has bogged down in the Senate as Democrats have debated among themselves — with Manchin ultimately declaring he couldn’t vote for it because it lacked bipartisan support. Yet Manchin’s position has evolved, and compromise appeared to be nearing after he proposed a series of changes this week to narrow its scope. His proposal received a boost Thursday when Stacey Abrams, a former Georgia gubernatorial candidate who is a leading Democratic voice on voting rights, said she “absolutely” supported it. “What Sen. Manchin is putting forward are some basic building blocks that we need to ensure that democracy is accessible,” Abrams told CNN. Still, in a narrowly divided Senate where Democrats must count on Vice President Kamala Harris to cast tie-breaking votes, any compromise will likely be for naught unless changes are made to Senate filibuster rules, which Manchin and others oppose. For now, it takes 60 votes to overcome a filibuster and advance legislation. Over a dozen Senate Republicans took turns at the microphone during a Thursday news conference to denounce the bill, which they view as a federal overreach into state and local elections. McConnell predicted all Republicans would remain in lockstep opposition regardless of what changes are made. Sen. Roy Blunt, the No. 4 ranking Senate Republican, noted the endorsement by Abrams, who is a lightning rod for GOP criticism. “I actually think when Stacey Abrams immediately endorsed Sen. Machin’s proposal, it became the Stacey Abrams (bill), not the Joe Manchin (bill),” he told reporters Thursday. As written, the Democrats’ bill would bring about the largest overhaul of U.S. voting in a generation, touching nearly every aspect of the electoral process. It would blunt laws erected in the name of election security, like voter ID requirements, while curtailing the influence of big money in politics. It would create a nonpartisan process for redrawing congressional districts, expand mail voting and early voting, restore the rights of felons to cast a ballot, and scores of other provisions. Manchin’s counter-offer, which is intended to entice GOP support, would leave significant portions of the sprawling bill intact while curtailing, rewriting, or eliminating other key parts. “Color me a little a little skeptical,” Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia said of the possibility of bipartisanship. What will ultimately come to the floor for a vote Tuesday remains unclear. Also not certain: whether Manchin will vote for it. “We’ll see what bill we have,” he told reporters Thursday. “We don’t know what bill we’re going to have.” A national voter ID requirement favored by Manchin has emerged as one sticking point with some Democrats. Manchin’s proposal is far softer than the strict photo ID requirements adopted by some states. It would require all states to check ID, but various documents, including a utility bill, could be used instead of a photo ID, a requirement already adopted by 15 states, including Manchin’s West Virginia. “That is what we’re negotiating,” said Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who is playing a lead role in guiding the legislation. Polls have shown notable bipartisan support for voter ID requirements, and Democrats in their elections overhaul focused on the strictest ID laws. In the current Senate bill, Democrats would require states with an ID law to allow voters who show up without identification to cast a regular ballot as long as they sign an affidavit under penalty of perjury. “We might squabble about one or two things,” said Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia. “But I am not about to sacrifice the good in the pursuit of the perfect.” Klobuchar said she would continue to work on the bill over the weekend and was optimistic all 50 Senate Democrats would support it. “If we reach unity on a voting bill in the Democratic Party, with all of the debates we’ve been having over the last few months, I don’t think anything’s over yet,” she said. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
