WASHINGTON (AP) ? Declaring "the time for excuses is over," President Barack Obama is trumpeting the economic benefits of an immigration overhaul, arguing that a bipartisan bill picking up steam in the Senate would put the nation's loathed deficits and fragile entitlements on better footing.
A recent analysis from the Congressional Budget Office, lawmakers' nonpartisan scorekeeper, was Exhibit A in Obama's weekly radio and Internet address Saturday. The report shows deficits would fall nearly $1 trillion over two decades after the bill becomes law.
What's more, Obama said, the influx of immigrant-driven investment, technology and businesses would give the economy a 5 percent shot in the arm.
"This bipartisan, common-sense bill will help the middle class grow our economy and shrink our deficits, by making sure that every worker in America plays by the same set of rules and pays taxes like everyone else," he said.
Confidence that the overhaul could pass the Senate by impressive margins is growing, and leaders scheduled a test vote on the bill for Monday, with a final vote expected by the end of next week. Although the heart of the bill is a 13-year pathway to citizenship for millions living in the United States illegally, it was a military-style surge to U.S.-Mexican border security, added this week to placate wary Republicans, that was credited for giving the bill a much-needed boost.
Obama didn't specifically address the border amendment Saturday, but he did note that the bill "would continue to strengthen security at our borders." Despite concerns from some Democrats that the security provisions ? 20,000 new agents, 350 miles of new fencing, 18 new unmanned drones ? are overkill, Obama spokesman Jay Carney said Friday it would constitute a "breakthrough" that the White House applauded.
"The bill isn't perfect. It's a compromise," Obama said, reprising a line he's used throughout the process when Democrats have complained the bill has become too conservative. "But it's consistent with the principles that I and others have laid out."
In the Republican address, Rep. John Kline of Minnesota says Obama must show leadership to avoid an impending hike on student loan interest rates. He said it's fortunate that Obama and House Republicans agree on the issue and have both proposed plans that would tie interest rates to the market. He accused Senate Democrats of blocking each plan.
"If I didn't know any better, I would say they are content to let rates double," Kline said. "This eleventh-hour scrambling is a perfect demonstration of why we need to take the politics out of student loans once and for all."
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Online:
Obama address: www.whitehouse.gov
GOP address: www.youtube.com/HouseConference
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-time-excuses-immigration-over-100152943.html
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Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who exposed the NSA’s PRISM surveillance program and a number of similar government initiatives over the course of the last few weeks, has left Hong Kong and is currently in transit in Moscow. According to Wikileaks, which has been providing legal assistance to Snowden, he “is bound for the Republic of Ecuador via a safe route for the purposes of asylum, and is being escorted by diplomats and legal advisors from WikiLeaks.” That democratic nation, the earliest reports suggested, was Venezuela, with Moscow just being the first stop on his journey. Now, however, it looks like Ecuador, which also offered asylum to Wikileaks’ founder Julian Assange, has taken an interest in this case, too. Earlier this week, it seemed Snowden was going to head for Iceland. Update (9:58am PT): It now looks as if Snowden has indeed applied for asylum in Ecuador. The country’s foreign minister just tweeted this: The Government of Ecuador has received an asylum request from Edward J. #Snowden— Ricardo Patiño Aroca (@RicardoPatinoEC) June 23, 2013 Wikileaks has also updated its press release to read: “He is bound for the Republic of Ecuador via a safe route for the purposes of asylum, and is being escorted by diplomats and legal advisors from WikiLeaks.” We have updated this story to reflect that. The Ecuadorean Ambassador is still here at Moscow airport. It looks like Ecuador is Edward Snowden's destination http://t.co/ZUfwND94nJ— Daniel Sandford (@BBCDanielS) June 23, 2013 As far as we can see, there are no direct flights that connect Moscow to Ecuador’s capital of Quito, so if Snowden would travel commercially (and the distance is out of the reach of most standard business jets), he will likely have to make another stop. Cuba would be a likely candidate and it was discussed earlier today when it still looked as if Snowden was heading to Venezuela. The U.S. has revoked Snowden’s passport, though, which shouldn’t be a problem for entering Ecuador, but it could complicate his travels through another country. Snowden was allowed to leave Hong Kong legally, Hong Kong’s government said today, because the U.S.’s request for the issue of a warrant of arrest “did not fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law.” Hong Kong asked the U.S. for more information, but because it didn’t receive this yet, it had “no legal basis to restrict Mr Snowden from leaving Hong Kong.”