Bennet, Udall, Gutierrez Meet For Reform

Denver, Colorado  Senator Michael Bennet and Senator Mark Udall of Colorado along with U.S. House of Representatives, Luis Gutierrez of Illinois, hosted a meeting in support of immigration reform for 2014.  Today marks the 1 year anniversary of the passage of a comprehensive bill with tough provisions that was passed by the U.S. Senate.  However, the Speaker of the House refuses to allow the law to even come to to the floor for a vote, where a bipartisan coalition of Democrats and Republicans are ready to support passage.

Senator Bennet has been at the forefront of immigration reform.  He is one of 8 senators who worked out the details of the version of the law that was passed in the Senate.  The senators, known as the "Gang of 8" come from both sides of the aisle and represent a mix of liberal and conservative senators from each party.  Substantial compromise was made on each side to eventually agree on a bill that will provide relief to at least 60% of the undocumented immigrants who are present in the U.S.

The final Senate version contains tough enforcement provisions and provides a difficult route to citizenship for those who qualify.  It is certainly not amnesty, but allows undocumented workers a clear path to citizenship so long as they remain in good standing with the law and follow certain other procedures.  The Obama Administration is currently deporting roughly 450,000 immigrants every year, many who would be helped by the version passed in the Senate.

Most American families are immigrants or descendants of immigrants.  The U.S. has benefited from immigrant ingenuity including the invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell and in modern times, the founder of Yahoo and part of the group who founded Google were both immigrants.  One of the requirements under the Senate version of the law is for immigrants to pay a fine which will help reduce the national debt.  Also, the Senate version requires border security as a condition for immigration reform.

Opponents of the bill want to solve immigration on a piece-meal basis.  They want more effort spent on border security before considering a path to citizenship.  However, conservatives who are concerned about the nation's security encourage the passage of the law because it would help identify people who are in the country.

Although main-stream press have whistled immigration reform as a dead duck until President Obama leaves office, advocates continue to encourage a last minute change in positions.  Both Republicans and Democrats stand to gain from the passage of the bill, and each stands to lose if nothing is done.  Republicans signaled they were ready to work towards a solution after heavy losses during the last election.  Voters indicated they were tired of the gridlock and animosity between the parties and wanted law makers to work towards resolution of issues for the benefit of the country.  However, a few conservative law makers have pressured House leadership to refuse to allow the bill to come up for a vote.

Egyptian Court Spits On Free Press

Peter Greste Al Jazeera Photo

Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohammad from the Al Jazeera network received stiff prison sentences for doing what journalists the world over do, report the news. 

 While some experts say the journalists were biased, a claim that follows many news organizations, including those from the U.S., the basic concept of reporting the truth as the reporter sees it is over in Egypt. 

 Al Jazeera established an English division which maintained independent editorial positions from it's Arabic home division based in Qatar. The Arabic division of Al Jazeera has been generally friendly to the Muslim Brotherhood, to which past Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi was a member. It became illegal to belong to the Muslim Brotherhood after Morsi was ousted by Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.

 The sentences are nothing short of a slap in the face to the U.S. after U.S. Sec. of State, John Kerry's, visit to Egypt ended Sunday. The Egyptian government assured the U.S. the trial would be fair as the U.S. handed out $570 million dollars in aid including 10 Apache attack helicopters. Some in congress are now calling into question whether the U.S. has it's priorities in the right place. 

Mohamed Fahmy Al Jazeera Photo

 The evidence against the journalists was hardly convincing. It included footage shot by Greste for the BBC as a former Australian journalist, along with B-roll and tourist shots. Defense attorneys had difficulty accessing the evidence and cross examination was hampered by frequent interruptions from the judge. 

Perhaps more troubling than a government which jails anyone who opines an unpopular point of view, is the response from various countries which value free speech, which mostly seemed to shrug their shoulders. Sec. of State Kerry issued a terse statement, but the aid promised appears to remain despite the clear rebuff. 

Baher Mohammad
Al Jazeera Photo

Apparently Sec. of State John Kerry's statement the verdict is "a deeply disturbing set-back to Egypt's transition" carries no more weight than Gen. Abdel Fattah Al Sisi's promise the trial would be fair.  The sentence stands, a miscarriage of justice and basic due process has occurred, yet everyone appears to be carrying on as if today's announcement underscores the kind of principles Apache helicopters were designed to enforce.



Journalists world wide now have a great deal to fear.  That includes student journalists since the four student journalists supporting the Al Jazeera team received equally harsh sentences for doing what student journalists are supposed to do.

Reports from the Daily Beast were relied upon in this piece.

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Bennet, Part Of Bi-Partisan Senators Advocating Private Sector Fix To Problems At VA

In letter to President Obama, Senators urge top-level private sector review of VA systems

Washington, DC – Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet joined a bipartisan group of nine U.S. Senators to call on the Administration to accept private sector assistance in fixing the broken Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) scheduling system.  In a letter sent today, Sens. Michael Bennet (D-CO), Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Mike Johanns (R-NE), Patty Murray (D-WA), Richard Burr (R-NC), Al Franken (D-MN), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Joe Donnelly (D-IN), and Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), urged the VA to follow the example of the Army, which in 2010 allowed a consortium of leading technology companies to provide expertise in designing a corrective plan, at no cost to the taxpayers, to fix widespread data management issues uncovered at the Army’s Arlington National Cemetery.

“Because of the immediacy of the many challenges at the VA, we urge you to work with us to implement a similar cost-effective, private sector initiative so we can begin restoring the trust of our veterans and the American public in the ability of the VA to meet the commitments our nation has made to our veterans.  Our military men and women, their families, and our veterans deserve nothing less.”

“Engaging the tech sector and the best minds from leading American IT firms produced a comprehensive business plan to help the Army modernize its workflow procedures and upgrade the data management systems at Arlington.  That effort, conducted at no cost to the taxpayers, represented the very best traditions of corporate citizenship,” the senators wrote.

Full text of the letter is below, and a PDF of the signed letter can be accessed here.

June 5, 2014

President Barack Obama

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW

Washington, D.C.

Dear Mr. President:

Like most Americans, we are outraged at the documented misconduct at the U.S. Veterans Health Administration that has caused our military veterans to face long waits when seeking the medical care they have earned.  That some veterans actually have died while waiting for needed care adds urgency to our efforts to act immediately.  While last week’s preliminary Inspector General’s (IG) report indicated this is a systemic problem that dates back many years, it is our responsibility to take swift, decisive action now.

The IG report details widespread information technology challenges that enabled many of the unacceptable and inappropriate use of scheduling gimmicks and outright fabrication of performance metrics at the VA.  We should be able to move quickly to begin restoring confidence in the VA by addressing these technology and data management problems in the current scheduling system.

This is a crisis that requires immediate action, and we recommend enlisting the expertise of the private sector to provide an assessment and recommendations for improvements to the current IT and workflow challenges at VA.  By calling on our best minds across the private sector in a pro bono demonstration of solid corporate citizenship, we could create a blueprint for achievable action the VA should undertake within 60-to-90 days.  Our veterans deserve this quick action on these urgent issues. 

We already have an effective template that sorts through most of the legal and process issues to allow this type of private-sector assistance.  For example, a 2010 Inspector General’s investigation revealed widespread mismanagement at the U.S. Army’s Arlington National Cemetery, including misplaced and mishandled remains of our war-fighters.  The IG report also revealed that Cemetery managers continued to rely upon decades of vulnerable, hand-written paper files in managing burial records.  A consortium of technology companies operating under the auspices of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) jumped in quickly to provide their services and expertise at no cost to the taxpayer.  This task force ultimately worked with the Army to create a legal framework that enabled the Army and Arlington National Cemetery to accept their pro bono help.

Engaging the tech sector and the best minds from leading American IT firms produced a comprehensive business plan to help the Army modernize its workflow procedures and upgrade the data management systems at Arlington.  That effort, conducted at no cost to the taxpayers, represented the very best traditions of corporate citizenship.

We are confident that private sector expertise from across the country could be assembled to provide a similar pro-bono service to help fix the challenges at the VA, and we stand ready to assist the Administration in moving quickly to help empanel this group. 

Not every problem requires a government solution.  Because of the immediacy of the many challenges at the VA, we urge you to work with us to implement this cost-effective, private sector initiative so we can begin restoring the trust of our veterans and the American public in the ability of the VA to meet the commitments our nation has made to our veterans.  Our military men and women, their families, and our veterans deserve nothing less.

End

Senator Bennet has also been instrumental in passing immigration reform which remains stalled in the U.S. House of Representatives.  In the case of immigration reform, it will take not just governmental solutions to fix the problem, but more, governmental solutions at the federal instead of state level.  The State of Arizona provided it's own fix to the problem with disastrous consequences, costing the state billions of dollars in lost business.  There is a place for public-private partnerships in which the private sector aids government, as well as the role of purely governmental solutions.  Each has a place as America grows.