Chad’s Morning Brief: More Proof the Senate Doesn’t Care About Border Security, Food Stamps and Soda, & More
Here is your Morning Brief for the morning of June 19, 2013. Give me your feedback below and tune in to The Chad Hasty Show for these and many more topics from 8:30 to 11am. Remember, you can listen online at KFYO.com or with the radioPup App.
1. Senate Rejects Fence (link)
The Senate again yesterday proved that they really don't care about defending the border. Instead they are all about legalizing those who broke the law as quickly as possible. Senator John Thune proposed the border fence amendment, but it was defeated.
The 54-39 vote to reject the fence shows the core of the immigration deal is holding. The vote broke mostly along party lines, though five Republicans, including Sen. Marco Rubio and the rest of the bill’s authors, voted against the fence, and two Democrats voted for it.
Republicans had offered the fence as a way to build the confidence of voters skeptical that the government will enforce its laws, but opponents said building more fencing is costly, would take too long, and shouldn’t be dictated by Washington.
“I think we should leave that to the best judgment of the Border Patrol,” said Sen. John McCain, one of the eight senators who wrote the immigration bill.
Sen. John Thune, South Dakota Republican, proposed the border fence amendment, which would have prevented the administration from granting any illegal immigrants legal status under the bill until at least 350 miles of double-tier fencing has been erected, and would withhold full citizenship rights until 700 total miles have been built.
Minutes after the border fence, senators also voted to weaken current law that requires the government to have biometric checks such as fingerprints or eye-scans for every visitor to the U.S. — a recommendation of the 9/11 commission that looked into the terrorist attacks on Washington and New York.
Senators said it is too expensive to check fingerprints at all air, land and sea ports of entry. Instead, the bill calls for photographic checks at air and sea ports, but excludes land ports.
“When is our federal government going to keep its promises when it comes to the issue of border security?” said Mr. Thune, the sponsor of the fence proposal.
Pathetic. The Senate is showing their true colors on this. Border security isn't important to them at all. Not surprising at all, just pathetic.
2. Biden Talks and Pushes Gun Control (link)
The White House hasn't done much lately regarding gun control, but Vice President Joe Biden promised that they haven't given up.
Six months after Newtown, the White House has pulled back hard on its gun control push.
But in the first event since the Senate’s failed April 17 background checks vote, Vice President Joe Biden insisted to a subdued audience at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on Tuesday that he and President Barack Obama “haven’t given up” — even as gun control groups and Senate supporters are urging them to do more.
All that he had to show for it so far, though, was a list of completed or mostly completed executive actions and a set of new guidebooks for churches and schools on how to deal with a mass shooting situation.
Biden chief of staff Bruce Reed’s Friday White House strategy meetings for representatives of gun control groups ended weeks ago. The barnstorming tour Biden pledged would pressure senators who voted against background checks hasn’t materialized.
No new sponsors or votes for the background check bill have emerged publicly. Neither has any sort of timeline for when Congress might take up the measure again.
Biden conceded the obvious Tuesday: The White House gun push in Congress has faltered.
“I had hoped we would have assembled in this auditorium earlier,” Biden said. “I had hoped we would have assembled here a couple of months ago celebrating the first in a number of victories that we will have.”
Biden and the Dems haven't given up on gun control yet. Biden has said in the past that those who oppose stricter gun control will face the wrath of the voters. In my opinion, it will be those who infringe on the 2nd Amendment that will face the voters.
3. Food Stamps and Soda (link)
I can't believe it but I finally found something that I agree with Michael Bloomberg on. If you're on Food Stamps, you don't get to buy soda.
The mayors of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and 15 other cities are reviving a push against letting food stamps be used to buy soda and other sugary drinks.
In a letter to congressional leaders Tuesday, the mayors say it's "time to test and evaluate approaches limiting" the use of the subsidies for sugar-laden beverages, in the interest of fighting obesity and related diseases.
"We need to find ways to strengthen the program and promote good nutrition while limiting the use of these resources for items with no nutritional value, like sugary drinks, that are actually harming the health of participants," Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose office released the letter, said in a statement. "Why should we continue supporting unhealthy purchases in the false name of nutrition assistance?"
The other cities whose mayors signed the letter are Baltimore; Boston; Louisville, Ky.; Madison, Wis.; Minneapolis; Newark, N.J.; Oakland, Calif.; Philadelphia; Phoenix; Portland, Ore.; Providence, R.I.; Salt Lake City; San Francisco; St. Louis; and Seattle.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which runs the food stamp program, declined to comment on Tuesday's letter; representatives for House Speaker John Boehner and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, to whom the letter was addressed, didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
Okay well I sort of agree with Bloomberg on this. For me it has nothing to do with obesity or promoting good health. To me, if you are on food stamps you shouldn't be able to buy the "fun" foods. That means no soda, chips, pizza, candy, etc. You get the basics and fruits and veggies. That's it. It shouldn't be fun to be on food stamps.
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