More Stuff in the News: Coal Miners, Defective Vehicles, Mexican Smugglers, Illegal Immigration, Same-Sex Marriage, Guns

U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Bob Casey (D-PA) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) have introduced the Miners Protection Act. This legislation would ensure that the federal government and coal operators honor their obligation of lifetime pensions and health benefits to retired miners and their families who are facing uncertainty as a result of the financial crisis and corporate bankruptcies.

Automotive industry executives who cover up or conceal the death and injury risks of defective vehicles or parts could face up five years in prison, under sweeping auto safety legislation filed in the Senate. The measure, sponsored by three leading Democrats on the Senate Commerce Committee, comes in advance of a mark-up the panel will hold next week on a broader Republican transportation bill that includes highway, rail and port related provisions. In addition to the prospect of executives facing jail time, the bill also removes a $35 million cap on civil fines federal regulators could impose on automakers for safety violations, including failing to report dangerous defects.

U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) sent a letter to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske today following the rupture of the International Outfall Interceptor (IOI), a sewage pipeline that transports up to 9.9 million gallons of wastewater from Nogales, Arizona to Sonora, Mexico each day, by smugglers who had dug a hole under a house in Nogales in an attempt to bring drugs across the border. Senator McCain also urged CBP to work with the city to fund the repairs to the IOI, close access to the tunnel, and address serious problems with border security that continue to harm the communities along Arizona’s southern border.

On the current debate on illegal immigration, Senator John McCain - (R - AZ) said: "Arizona has been on the front lines of this serious problem for years. That’s why I partnered with then-President George W. Bush and Republicans and Democrats in Congress a decade ago and then again in 2013 to advance practical solutions to reform our broken immigration system in a humane manner and regain control of our border to protect our nation. In fact, our most recent legislation included provisions requiring investments in border security totaling some $6.5 billion and hiring an additional 20,000 Border Patrol agents." (What good is hiring 20,000 border patrol agents if you are going to tie their hands?)

Following last month’s Supreme Court ruling that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry under the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection, U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, member of the Senate Finance Committee, has joined democratic colleagues in unveiling legislation to provide equal dignity for all legal marriages in the tax code. The bill, the Equal Dignity for Married Taxpayers Act, removes gender-specific references to marriage, recognizing LGBTQ Americans in the tax code.

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee threw bipartisan support behind an amendment sponsored by Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley to help tackle climate change. The amendment enables the U.S. State Department to invest in the global Green Climate Fund. The amendment passed on a bipartisan 16-14 vote and was adopted into the Senate’s State and Foreign Operations appropriations bill.

In response to the announcement by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that Charleston shooter Dylan Roof should have been prohibited from purchasing the firearm used in the murder of nine men and women last month, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) have announced that they will call on the Administration to take executive action to keep guns out of the hands of criminals by closing a loophole in the law and putting an end to the “default proceed” rule. Under the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, the “default proceed” rule currently allows federally licensed firearms dealers who have initiated a background check, but have not been notified by the FBI within three business days whether or not the sale of a firearm to a certain individual would violate law, to sell the firearm.

Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, introduced The Homeless Veterans Services Protection Act with cosponsor Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI), which would prevent thousands of homeless veterans from losing access to housing services. VA’s proposed changes to the decades-old policy for homeless services would bar access for veterans who served less that than two years continuously, or who had an other than honorable discharge. This bill would ensure that those changes can never take place. Last week, Sen. Murray toured the Randall Apartments in Tacoma, a 35-unit complex that serves homeless veterans. She also met with representatives from the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs, local housing authorities, and community groups to discuss her new legislation.

U.S. Senator Rand Paul introduced legislation that would prevent “sanctuary cities” from harboring violent and dangerous criminal aliens, known as the Protecting American Citizens Together Act (PACT Act). The PACT Act would require state and local law enforcement to notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) following the arrest of an illegal immigrant and detain an illegal immigrant if requested to do so by ICE. Additionally, if the Bureau of Prisons receives a request from ICE to transfer an illegal immigrant to their custody, that request will take priority over the request from state and local agencies. Under this legislation, localities will be required to follow the new requirements as a condition of receiving federal law enforcement grants.