Homeland nominee denies visa allegations
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama’s choice to be the No. 2 official at the Department of Homeland Security used his appearance before a Senate panel Thursday to adamantly deny allegations that he helped a politically connected company obtain a visa.
But the lawmakers who may need the most convincing the eight Republican members of the Senate Homeland Security Committee weren’t in the room for the nearly two-hour confirmation hearing.
Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma said in a written statement that he wouldn’t participate in the hearing until the allegations against Alejandro Mayorkas are resolved.
The nomination hit a snag this week after The Associated Press reported that the department’s inspector general is investigating Mayorkas’ role in helping secure a foreign investor visa for Gulf Coast Funds Management, a company run by former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s brother Tony Rodham.
Foes to continue push to stop NSA program
WASHINGTON – Opponents of the National Security Agency’s collection of hundreds of millions of Americans’ phone records insist they will press ahead with their challenge to the surveillance program after a narrow defeat in the House.
Furious lobbying and last-minute pleas to lawmakers ensured victory for the Obama administration as the House voted to spare the NSA program.
Unbowed, the libertarian-leaning conservatives, tea partyers and liberal Democrats who led the fight said they will try to undo a program they called an unconstitutional intrusion on civil liberties.
Rep. Justin Amash, a 33-year-old Michigan Republican, made his intentions clear through the social media of Twitter: “We came close (205-217). If just 7 Reps had switched their votes, we would have succeeded. Thank YOU for making a difference. We fight on.”
The showdown marked the first chance for lawmakers to take a stand on the program since former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden leaked classified documents last month.
U.S. to sue Texas over voting rights
WASHINGTON – The Obama administration opened an aggressive new front in the battle over voter protection Thursday, singling out Texas for legal action and promising broader efforts to come after last month’s Supreme Court ruling that wiped out a major provision of the Voting Rights Act.
It was the administration’s first legal response to counter the justices’ 5-4 decision, but Attorney General Eric Holder pledged that “it will not be our last.”
In a speech to the National Urban League in Philadelphia, Holder called the Voting Rights Act “the cornerstone of modern civil rights law” and said that “we cannot allow the slow unraveling of the progress that so many, throughout history, have sacrificed so much to achieve.”
Texas Republicans suggested the administration effort was more about politics.
“This decision has nothing to do with protecting voting rights and everything to do with advancing a partisan political agenda,” Sen John Cornyn said after Holder’s speech.
Associated Press
