Federal funds to fight illegal immigration being used to protect illegal immigrants

U.S. Senators Richard Shelby (R-Ala) and David Vitter (R-La.) sent the below letter to Attorney General Eric Holder requesting him to identify states receiving federal funds for fighting illegal immigration and passing these funds onto cities that provide a safe haven for illegal immigrants.

In short, federal funds to be used in fighting against illegal immigration are being given to cities, more commonly known as Sanctuary cities, that are protecting illegal immigrants and possibly terrorists.....

The Honorable Eric Holder
Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington DC 20530

Dear Mr. Attorney General,

While you have filed suit against the state of Arizona for fighting illegal immigration, it has been brought to our attention that valuable state and local law enforcement dollars used to fight illegal immigration are wastefully being distributed to cities that encourage and provide safe harbor for illegal aliens.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) administers the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), which provides federal payments to states and localities that incurred correctional officer costs for incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens.

This program is essentially providing room and board for illegal aliens and potential terrorists in Sanctuary Cities. Localities who hypocritically request SCAAP funding are providing sanctuary and safe havens for criminal aliens. Sanctuary Cities bar law enforcement from doing their job of asking the people they come into contact with about their immigration status, thus mandating an evasion of their legal responsibilities to share immigration information with federal authorities. The results are safe havens for illegal aliens and potential terrorists where essentially the
rule of law does not apply in these cities.

The Department of Justice should not be providing law enforcement dollars to cities that provide safe haven to criminal aliens and potential terrorists, as these tax dollars could be used more wisely and efficiently in cities that are legitimately fighting the battle against illegal immigration.

We understand that DOJ does not support SCAAP, as it has not been officially requested by DOJ in the past seven budget requests. SCAAP was airdropped into DOJ’s Fiscal Year 2011 budget request for $330 million by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), as seen in the official budget pass-back from OMB to DOJ. Since 2000, five states have disproportionately received $2.2 billion of the $2.8 billion (77 percent) in funding this program has received, with some of these states having Sanctuary Cities.

We request that DOJ and the Inspector General immediately identify cities that have sanctuary policies, show sincerity in the fight against illegal immigration, and immediately re-evaluate the process and formula through which SCAAP is administered. The reauthorization of SCAAP is currently pending before Congress so we would appreciate your expedited response so we may better assist you and the Department of Justice in addressing this matter.

Sincerely,

Richard Shelby & David Vitter

GAO Discovers Cost of Each DOE-Created ‘Stimulus’ Job: $194,213

It sounds as if the Department of Energy is using the same math the Administration used for predicting "other" jobs they supposedly created with stimulus funds and the same math President Obama used to figure out we have 57 States (48+2= 57).

From Rep Joe Barton -- (picture added)

A Government Accountability Office report released Thursday shows that the Department of Energy has spent more than $1.9 billion in so-called stimulus funds to create 10,018 jobs through May, an average of $194,213 spent per full-time job created.

“It looks like the Department of Energy got in over its head when it was handed $6 billion in stimulus money to create jobs by accelerating environmental cleanup work. This report says that DOE managed its timetables well enough, but it also indicates that so far, the jobs that DOE created cost $194,213 each,” said U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Ennis/Arlington, ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “It’s hard to believe that the Energy Department isn’t creating a lesson in how to waste a lot of money in a hurry, with taxpayers joining the jobless as the latest victims of the recession. Americans need dramatically better thinking from the department’s leaders so the rest of their stimulus funding is more effectively used, too.”

DOE also reports it created 10,018 jobs through May of this year. However, the department has also used a more unorthodox methodology to inflate job creation in some of its reports, a methodology the GAO says may mislead the public. For example, using the method GAO was critical of, the agency reports roughly 20,000 jobs created through May of this year, counting the number of “lives touched” in some documents. More....

For a copy of the GAO report click here.

AFP "November is Coming" Bus Tour comes to N/E Ohio

Americans for Prosperity’s ‘November Is Coming’ Bus Tour Stops Put Pressure on Congress Members John Boccieri and Betty Sutton

-Bus Tour Stops will equip citizens to educate others about big government spending records, August 2 and 3–

CLEVELAND – Americans for Prosperity will bring its November Is Coming Bus Tour to Northeast Ohio on August 2nd and 3rd to urge citizens to hold Congress members John Boccieri and Betty Sutton accountable if they continue to support big government policies that are bankrupting America.

“Boccieri and Sutton have joined with Nancy Pelosi in ushering in a new era of bigger government, endless bailouts, a permanently broken federal budget and government control over our decisions,” said Rebecca Heimlich, Ohio State Director of Americans for Prosperity. “Folks need to send a clear message to Boccieri and Sutton that struggling taxpayers can’t afford any more bad decisions from Congress.”

Concerned Ohio citizens will be asked to sign petitions to Congress members Boccieri and Sutton, urging them to vote against big government legislation or be voted against in November.

More than 371,000 Americans have signed AFP’s November Is Coming petition at www.NovemberIsComing.com telling their elected officials that “If you vote Yes to big government programs or any other freedom-killing legislation, I will vote NO on you in the next election.” The petition goes on to say that the citizen signing the petition will vote against the elected official:

“If you fail to support efforts to repeal ObamaCare and replace it with real reform that puts patients first; vote yes to cap-and-trade energy taxes or fail to stop any related EPA regulation; vote yes to any more bailouts; or fail to stop any attempts to regulate the Internet.”

Activists will be encouraged to go door-to-door and do at-home phone banking as part of a citizen education effort to let people know where Congress members Boccieri and Sutton stand on the issues and to encourage them to contact Boccieri and Sutton to tell them to stop the out-of-control spending and big government policies.

“The public needs to know about Congressman Boccieri’s and Congresswoman Sutton’s past support for endless bailouts, a shameful government takeover of health care, and a cap-and-tax scheme designed to regulate our lives and limit our freedoms. Their constituents can make a difference by letting Congress member know they have had enough of these reckless policies.”

These events are free and open to the public.

What: November Is Coming bus tour stop - North Canton
When: Monday, August 2, 12:30-1:30pm
Where: Fitzpatrick Pavilion, Price Park, 1000 W. Maple Street, North Canton, Ohio 44720

What: November Is Coming bus tour stop - Akron
When: Monday, August 2, 5:30-6:30pm
Where: Liberty Harley-Davidson, 32 East Cuyahoga Falls Ave., Akron, Ohio 44310

What: November Is Coming bus tour stop - Medina
When: Tuesday, August 3, 12:30-1:30pm
Where: Public Square, Medina, OH 44256 (corner of Court St. and Washington St.)

What: November Is Coming bus tour stop - Greater Cleveland Area
When: Tuesday, August 3, 5:30-6:30pm
Where: Veterans Memorial Park, Pavilion B, 38975 Detroit Road, Avon, OH, 44011

Americans for Prosperity’s November Is Coming bus tour will also stop in Cincinnati, the Greater Columbus Area, Chillicothe and Zanesville in Ohio, and will travel through Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Indiana.

For more information, please visit www.NovemberIsComing.com

Nebraska town may suspend voter-passed immigration crackdown over costs

From the PD --

Faced with expensive legal challenges, officials in the eastern Nebraska town of Fremont are considering suspending a voter-approved ban on hiring or renting property to illegal immigrants until the lawsuits are resolved.

The City Council narrowly rejected the ban in 2008, prompting supporters to gather enough signatures for the ballot measure. The ordinance, which was approved by voters last month, has divided the community. Supporters say it was necessary to make up for what they see as lax federal law enforcement and opponents argue that it could fuel discrimination.

But the council's president, Scott Getzschman, insisted the elected body was concerned about money, not about any lack of support for the ordinance. The City Council is scheduled to vote on suspending the ban on Tuesday night, a day before the city goes to court over the measure.

The city faces lawsuits from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund. City officials have estimated that Fremont's costs of implementing the ordinance -- including legal fees, employee overtime and improved computer software -- would average $1 million a year. More....

DISCLOSE ACT is Down But Not Out in Senate

Unable to reach 60 votes for cloture today Harry Reid called off the vote on the McCarthyite legislation of HR 5175 , the DISCLOSE Act.

Senators Snowe, Collins and Brown have all said they will not vote for the legislation and I even heard late today that Senator Feinstein said she would vote for cloture but not for the legislation.

From Fox --

Moderate Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, just told reporters she will not support proceeding with debate on a campaign finance bill, known as the DISCLOSE Act, a move that signals the end of the road for this legislation for now.

Complaining that there have been “no hearings, no vetting, no attempt to bring people together,” Snowe touted her own past work on the issue and added, “I know the new routine on legislation these days is to ram and jam…but it really does take time…It really does require building a consensus.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-CA, a gun control advocate, said she will support Democratic leaders’ effort to start debate on the legislation, but spokesman Gil Duran says the senator will not support the bill on final passage. And Feinstein told reporters moments ago that if today’s vote were one to shut off debate and move to final passage, she, too, would be a ‘no’ vote.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, the bill’s lead sponsor, had to keep in a House-passed exclusion from disclosure requirements for large membership groups like the NRA, in order to secure enough votes for passage. Feinstein opposes this carve out....

We all know this means we must remain vigilant and keep the pressure up and make sure no GOP and a few of the Democrats do not MAKE A DEAL, to get this passed!

Pat yourselves on the back now and scream hurray! But we remain alert & ready to burn up the phones, emails & faxes again! We will not be silenced!

Prolonged Detention -- Obama's Newly Made Up Presidential Power

This is very alarming!

Harry Reid and the Democrats' New McCarthyism -

We just got this in from our National Coordinator Team.... please make these call immediately!

The Democrats are running scared, fearful of the impact grassroots activists will have in November. With the DISCLOSE Act, which will go into effect almost immediately, in time for the November elections, they will be able to effectively and legally shut us down. The effort to silence us before the elections is tantamount to a witch hunt. Read this email carefully for more information about this bill and then please make some phone calls NOW and tell them to VOTE NO!!

From our friends at Freedom Action about this speech violating bill:

Even if somehow the speech restrictions in this bill were constitutional, their uneven application would be a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection under the law. Even the left-leaning Sierra Club has labeled the DISCLOSE Act a two-tiered system that is "unfair and undemocratic" and that smaller grass-roots organizations would be disadvantaged because they lack the resources to cope with "the additional disclosure burdens." The unions and the big non-profit groups get to keep their free speech given to them in the January Supreme Court decision, but the corporations and small non-profits lose theirs under DISCLOSE.

Also, President Obama and some Democrats are dishonestly stating that the Court's decision would "open the floodgates for special interest, including foreign corporations, to spend without limit in our elections." However, current federal law and Federal Election Commission regulations already ban foreign corporations from participating directly or indirectly in American elections. (see 2 U.S.C. § 441e and 2 U.S.C. 437g).

HOW THIS AFFECTS YOU

Exampleville, Ohio has two people running for U.S. Congress-Mr. A and Mr. B-in what promises to be a close race. Exampleville's local Tea Party believes in Mr. B. The Tea Party wants to run ads highlighting Mr. B's stance on cap and trade, federal spending, increased taxation, etc, but they don't have enough money to fulfill the new highly complex reporting requirements from DISCLOSE. And DISCLOSE would force them to list their top donors, even if they are not necessarily the specific donors to the ads, in their ads. Besides, the disclaimers required could take up to 14 of a 30 second ad. The Tea Party gives up trying to run ads to support Mr. B..

In contrast, Mr. A has some well-funded unions who want to see Exampleville's factories unionized, so the unions run ads against Mr. B and ads for Mr. A. Also, the Sierra Club and the ACLU (groups actually opposed to DISCLOSE) want Mr. A to support their issues, so they also run ads for Mr. A. None of these ads are subject to DISCLOSE's requirements.

Guess who wins?

(For those interested, here's a good link with information on the actual language and problems with the DISCLOSE bill, click here.) The DISCLOSE Act exempts unions and very large special interest groups!! And the little guy is left without a voice.

Senators to call:

Scott Brown (R-MA) http://scottbrown.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contactme
Washington DC: (T) (202) 224-4543, (F) (202) 228-2646
(CTPP Note -- Brown's office just stated he is voting no -- but please call anyway)

Olympia Snowe (R-ME)
http://snowe.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactSenatorSnowe.Email
Washington DC: (T) (202) 224-5344, Toll free (800) 432-1599, (F) (202) 224-1946

Susan Collins (R-ME)
http://collins.senate.gov/public/continue.cfm?FuseAction=ContactSenatorCollins.EmailIssue&CFID=42880122&CFTOKEN=39747274
Washington DC: (T) (202) 224-2523, (F) (202) 224-2693

Ben Nelson (D-NE)
http://bennelson.senate.gov/email-issues.cfm
Washington DC: (T) (202) 224-6551, (F) (202) 228-0012

Evan Bayh (D-IN)
http://bayh.senate.gov/contact/email/
Washington DC: (T) (202) 224-5623, (F) (202) 228-1377

Kent Conrad (D-ND)
https://conrad.senate.gov/contact/webform.cfm
Washintong DC: (T) (202) 224-2043, (F) (202) 224-7776

You are the heart and soul of the Tea Party Movement. Thank you for promoting the causes of fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, and free markets with us!

Your Tea Party Patriots National Coordinator Team,
Debbie Dooley, Mike Gaske, Rob Gaudet, Jenny Beth Martin, Mark Meckler, Sally Oljar, Diana Reimer, and Dawn Wildman