This afternoon a bipartisan group of senators are expected to lay out the proposal that they’re been negotiating among themselves since the election for comprehensive immigration reform. The group includes Sens. Charles Schumer (D-NY), John McCain (R-AZ), and Marco Rubio (R-FL). The proposal will be consistent with the general approach to reform that has the best chance of securing enough support to pass — and is a starting point for negotiating a deal that can pass the House. Then, on Tuesday, immigration reform is the focus of President Obama’s trip to Las Vegas.
Obama campaign leases its voter database — called the “nuclear codes” by campaign staff — to the new group Organizing For Action.
Reformers are delighted that the Senate Gang of Eight’s immigration reform proposal includes a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the country, but there are a lot of unresolved and interesting questions about how the process would actually work. And it raises an important point.
In the political sphere, we talk a lot about immigration reform when what we really mean is “illegal immigration reform.” But the fact is the system for legal immigration needs reforming, too, as almost anyone who has gone through it will tell you. So if we funnel illegal immigrants into the legal immigration system as a way to get legit, we’re compounding the existing strains on the system as well as sending them down a path that has a host of problems and uncertainties of its own.
It’s too early to say that’s what the Senate plan would do, but it’s a big question that reformers have.
Is the ‘Gang 8’ bipartisan compromise version of immigration reform really all it’s cracked up to be? Whether it’s a real ‘path to citizenship’ seems like it’s an open question. Here’s our look.
Human Rights Campaign praises Boy Scouts for considering lifting ban on gay members.
The proposal under consideration by the Boy Scouts of America would lift its national ban on gays in scouting, but leave it up to individual Boy Scout chapters whether to deny membership or leadership positions based on sexual orientation.
Remember that reporter from The Daily Caller who heckled Obama last year at that White House press conference? Well, he got into it with Chuck Schumer this afternoon. Watch.