AZ Congressional Delegation

GOP train wreck on immigration coming next week

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The other day I told you that the House schedules vote on two DACA bills destined to fail:

So now we have the hardline Goodlatte-MsSally bill from the GOP House Freedom Caucus, which does not have the votes to pass Congress, and a so-called GOP moderate bill still being drafted that will fall far short of the Dream Act and the bipartisan measure that couples a path to citizenship for Dreamers with beefed-up border security.

House Republicans have released a first draft of their new “compromise” immigration bill, the “Border Security and Immigration Reform Act.”

The nearly 300-page bill is one of two that the entire House will vote on next week. It is considered a GOP “moderate” alternative to the GOP conservative bill proposed by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA).

Riiight.

The New York Times reports, House Immigration Bill, Pitched as Compromise, Tilts to a Harder Line:

The draft bill, circulating among lawmakers on Thursday afternoon and up for a vote next week, closely adheres to President Trump’s vision for an immigration overhaul. In addition to protecting the young immigrants, it provides billions of dollars for a wall on the southwest border while imposing new limits on legal immigration.

The bill would also toughen rules for asylum seekers. And it would address the separation of children from parents under the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal border crossings by mandating that families be kept together while in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security, according to a summary of the measure.

In effect, the measure would offer Democrats and immigration moderates in the Republican Party a difficult choice: accept hard-line changes to much of the immigration system in exchange for protections for young undocumented immigrants and what appears to be a modification of the wrenching policy of splitting up families at the border.

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The Road to a Democratic State Legislature Runs through Maricopa County  

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Democrats can win by focusing on 3 issues: public education, health care, and job creation, according to Maricopa County Democratic Party Chairman Steven Slugocki

Maricopa County in Arizona is the fourth largest populated county in the United States. The fifth largest city in the country, Phoenix is within its boundaries as are 20 of the 30 state legislative districts.

It is also the county that Maricopa County Democratic Party Chairman Steven Slugocki believes has the best chance of shifting the balance of power in the Arizona State Legislature from red to blue.

Slugocki, the county chairperson of the Democratic Party since December 2015, relayed that grassroots enthusiasm for the Democratic Party, fueled by frustrations with both the Governorship of Doug Ducey (and state legislature) and the Presidency of Donald Trump (and Republican Congress), has reached once unimaginable heights. Committing to an all-out voter outreach effort, Slugocki emphasized that the county will prioritize local races from the Governor’s race at the top of the ballot to the local school board elections. The County Democratic organization pledges to “contest and fight for every seat in every area of the county.”

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(Update) SWAG List of Arizona Federal Candidates in 2018

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 The candidates listed below managed to collect enough signatures to file to run with the Arizona Secretary of State as of the filing deadline of May 30, 2018.

There could be legal challenges filed to the petitions of some candidates. There could also be write-in candidates who may qualify for the primary ballot. The list also does not include independent candidates who may qualify for the general election ballot.

Sen. John McCain is still with us, so there will not be a special election for his seat. The governor will be able to appoint his replacement when the time comes.

The primary election is Tuesday, August 28, 20i8.

U.S. Senate (open)

Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D)
Deedra Abboud (D)
Rep. Martha E. McSally (R)
Joe Arpaio (R)
Kelli Ward (R)
Eve Reyes-Aguirre (GRN)
Doug Marks (LIB)

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Oh, SNAP! The GOP’s war on the poor in the House farm bill

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Eighty percent of the farm bill’s spending is on nutrition programs, e.g., the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (formerly food stamps), but House Republicans want to start making work requirements for recipients harsher in order to benefit from these programs. No such requirements apply to the corporate welfare handed out to corporate executives to the tune of billions of dollars.

Tara Golshen at Vox.com has an explainer, House Republicans’ push to slash food stamps in the farm bill, explained:

The first draft of House Republicans’ farm bill, a $867 billion legislative package that subsidizes agriculture and food assistance programs, which Democrats say was written behind closed doors and without Democratic input. The bill has already passed out of the House Committee on Agriculture using only Republican votes. This is somewhat unusual — the farm bill has historically been bipartisan but has been plagued by a polarizing push over food assistance in recent years.

Rep. Collin Peterson, a conservative Minnesota Democrat and the Agricultural Committee’s ranking member, gave an impassioned statement just ahead of the partisan vote, saying, “We were pushed away by an ideological fight I repeatedly warned the chairman not to start.”

The House Rules Committee will devote Tuesday and Wednesday to the 2018 farm bill as members plow through a long list of amendments, raising the possibility of heated debate before it faces a floor vote later this week. Farm Bill Gets Two Days of House Rules Committee Consideration.

The Republican proposal to impose stricter work requirements and anti-fraud measures on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — commonly known as food stamps — is estimated to slash $20 billion from the program’s benefits over the next 10 years. One million people in households of more than 2 million individual could be pushed off the program or experience reduced benefits, according to an analysis by the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

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GOP House Freedom Caucus members are accessories to a conspiracy for obstruction of justice

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Members of the GOP House Freedom Caucus — led by Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), a Trump confidant — have been engaged in disputes with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein over the Justice Department’s response to congressional requests for documents about the decisions and behavior of federal law enforcement officials working on the Russia investigation and other federal probes, including the investigation into 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s email server.

The purpose of these members of Congress is to run interference for the Trump administration with the Special Counsel, and to “investigate the investigators” to undermine public confidence in the DOJ nd FBI. In short, they are accessories to a conspiracy for the obstruction of justice in the Russia investigation.

Congress is not entitled to review evidence or work product in an ongoing criminal investigation by the Department of Justice. DOJ Rules provide:

1-7.400 – Disclosure of Information Concerning Ongoing Criminal, Civil, or Administrative Investigations

  • Any communication by DOJ personnel with a member of the media relating to a pending investigation or case must be approved in advance by the appropriate United States Attorney or Assistant Attorney General, except in emergency circumstances. For administrative investigations not overseen by a U.S. Attorney or Assistant Attorney General, approval must be obtained from the Assistant Attorney General for Administration. Where the investigation is being handled by the Office of the Inspector General, approval must come from the Inspector General.
  • DOJ generally will not confirm the existence of or otherwise comment about ongoing investigations. Except as provided in subparagraph C of this section, DOJ personnel shall not respond to questions about the existence of an ongoing investigation or comment on its nature or progress before charges are publicly filed.
  • When the community needs to be reassured that the appropriate law enforcement agency is investigating a matter, or where release of information is necessary to protect the public safety, comments about or confirmation of an ongoing investigation may be necessary, subject to the approval requirement in subparagraph A.

[updated April 2018]

Nevertheless, DOJ has previously provided Congress with hundreds of texts between ex-Mueller team agent Peter Strzok and alleged mistress Lisa Page in pursuit of a right-wing conspiracy theory. And DOJ recently turned over redacted Comey memos to congressional committees.

Within minutes after Republicans received these investigation materials, they were selectively leaked to the media. AP obtains Comey memos on Trump interactions. Congressional Republicans have not demonstrated that they are acting within the confines of legitimate congressional oversight, or even in good faith.

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