Statement by the President on Senator Baucus

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For Immediate Release April 23, 2013 Statement by the President on Senator Baucus

I want to thank Max Baucus for his nearly 35 years of service to the people of Montana.  Max has made small businesses a top priority, often taking “Work Days” to visit local businesses across Montana and spend a day working alongside his constituents to gain perspective and help bolster the local economy.  As Finance Committee Chairman and a senior member of both the Agriculture and the Environment and Public Works Committees, Max has been a leader on a broad range of issues that touch the lives of Americans across the country.  Michelle and I commend Senator Baucus on his career, and wish him and his family well in the future.

Blog posts on this issue April 23, 2013 4:30 PM EDTPresident Obama Honors the 2013 National Teacher of the Year

President Obama honored Jeff Charbonneau, a science, physics and engineering teacher at Zillah High School in Washington, as the 2013 National Teacher of the Year.

April 22, 2013 6:34 PM EDTCelebrate National Park Week!

National Park Week celebrates and gives back to our country’s great natural and cultural landscapes.

April 22, 2013 5:57 PM EDTYoung Scientists and Innovators Amaze President Obama at the White House Science Fair

100 students from more than 40 states were at the White House for an all-day, hands-on celebration of the power and potential of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education.

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Republican Senator Makes The Conservative Case For Universal Background Checks

At a town hall in Oklahoma on Monday, Sen. Tom Corbun (R-OK) made perhaps the best argument to convince conservative gun owners that they should support required background checks on every single gun purchase. Taking the recent debate over gun regulations from the political to the personal, Coburn told constituents that universal checks are “the responsible way” for gun owners to ensure that they don’t sell their own guns to “someone you wouldn’t want to have it”:

Those on that list will include felons and people with mental instability. A concern that gun owners are on that list or one separate to it was discounted by the senator, a fact that has been and continues to be checked on by his staff on a regular basis.

“I’m for enhanced background checks because it’s a way for you to go online to make sure you’re not selling your gun to someone you wouldn’t want to have it,” said Coburn.The responsible way is to check them against this [National Instant Criminal Background Check System] list and they don’t know that you did it.”

“About 80 percent of criminals get their guns from us (responsible gun owners).

Coburn didn’t suggest that this check would stop all gun crime, however, he was positive it will slow it down a significant degree.

Currently, private sales are exempt from background checks, and it’s estimated that 40 percent of firearm sales are completed without a check. According to Bloomberg News, “A 2004 Bureau of Justice Statistics survey of inmates convicted of gun crimes found that 80 percent acquired the weapons through a private transfer.” Ninety-two percent of Americans want to change this grim statistic, and support a background check on all sales.

As members of the Senate debate new gun regulations, Coburn has gone back and forth on his support of universal background checks, expressing concern that the government could use such a system to keep a record of all gun owners. A recent spat over this detail led Senators to factor Coburn out of negotiations on a bill.

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Kirk becomes second Republican senator to support gay marriage

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) announced his support for same-sex marriage on Tuesday, becoming the second sitting GOP senator to do so.

"Same-sex couples should have the right to civil marriage," Kirk said in a statement on his blog.

"Our time on this earth is limited, I know that better than most," continued Kirk, who returned to the Senate earlier this year after a lengthy absence to recover from a stroke. "Life comes down to who you love and who loves you back — government has no place in the middle."

Kirk's statement came the same morning that Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) also announced that he supports same-sex marriage.

Kirk joins Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who switched positions in March, as the only sitting Republican senators to support gay marriage.

Last week, the Supreme Court held hearings on challenges to California's Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage and the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. The legal challenges brought a flood of high-profile Democratic senators, including many from swing states or traditionally GOP strongholds, publicly supporting gay marriage.

Besides Carper, seven other Senate Democrats have endorsed same-sex marriage in recent weeks: Sens. Jay Rockefeller (W.Va.), Mark Warner (Va.), Bob Casey Jr. (Pa.), Kay Hagan (N.C.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Mark Begich (Alaska), and Jon Tester (Mont.).

Polls also show growing acceptance among the public of gay marriage, leading many in the GOP to adopt a softer stance.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) last week said her position on the issue was "evolving." And fellow Republican Sen. Jeff Flake (Ariz.) said that while he supported traditional marriage, he believed it "inevitable" that a 2016 GOP presidential contender could openly support gay marriage.

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Democratic Senator Touts Bill To Allow Patients Involuntarily Committed For Mental Illness To Purchase Guns

Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) hinted on Tuesday that he would oppose a Democratic initiative to expand background checks to all gun purchases, but reiterated his support for an NRA-backed measure that would permit individuals deemed mentally ill or incompetent to purchase firearms more freely. Pryor is part of small group of Democrats in red states who have not endorsed universal background checks, even though the measure is supported by a majority of residents.

“You know, I’m a Second Amendment guy, everybody knows that. People in our state are very strong believers in the Second Amendment and the right to gun ownership,” Pryor told “The Alice Stewart Show,” which airs on KHTE 96.5 The Voice. The conservative Democrat then highlighted his co-sponsorship of an NRA concocted proposal that would reduce the number of records in the existing background check system by removing prohibitions against individuals who were involuntarily committed to mental institutions.

Pryor emphasized removing records from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, rather than broadening the requirement:

PRYOR: I do support improving the background check. I want to make sure that when we put data in the background check that we have the right kind of mental health data. We need integrity in that data to be in there and we also need a process where people can get their names out of there when the time is right. Either they got their name wrongly in the first place or they’ve gone through some issue or whatever and that’s behind them and they need to get their name out of the database. So I support a bipartisan bill on that, in fact I think it’s endorsed by the NRA, so I’m not like totally opposed to every single thing. I try to be reasonable on this.

Pryor, along with Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Mark Begich (R-AK), Dean Heller (R-NV), and Jeff Flake (R-AZ), has introduced the NICS Reporting Improvement Act (S. 480). The Act clarifies that mentally ill people are prevented from obtaining firearms but defines that term narrowly, so as to allow patients who had been treated for mental illness to pass a federal background check and purchase guns.

For instance, federal law prohibits people who are ordered by a court into involuntary treatment, found to pose a danger to themselves or others, or lack the mental capacity to enter into legal contracts from buying weapons — even though individuals can petition to have their rights restored in 22 states. The bipartisan NICS Reporting Improvement Act would allow these people to purchase weapons immediately after being released, unless it can be proven that they pose an “imminent” danger.

Since the shooting at Virginia Tech, the number of mental health records in NICS has grown from 200,000 to 1.2 million, though “millions of records identifying seriously mentally ill people and drug abusers as prohibited purchasers are missing from the federal background check database because of lax reporting by state agencies,” a report from Mayors Against Illegal Guns found. Pryor’s bill would keep even more mentally ill individuals out of the system.

“I doen’t listen to [New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg] on these issues, I listen to Arkansas,” Pryor said. A recent poll found that 84 percent of Arkansans support expanding background checks to all firearm purchsases.

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Statement by the President on Senator Johnson

Statement by the President on Senator Johnson | The White House Skip to main content | Skip to footer site map The White House. President Barack Obama Get Email UpdatesContact Us Go to homepage. The White House Blog Photos & Videos Photo Galleries Video Performances Live Streams Podcasts 2012: A Year in Photos

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Be Healthy, Be Active, Be You: April 1, 2013

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For Immediate Release March 26, 2013 Statement by the President on Senator Johnson

For more than three decades, Tim Johnson has dedicated himself to improving the lives of South Dakota’s working families.  From his early days in the state legislature to his distinguished career in the Senate, Tim has worked tirelessly to protect our environment, empower rural and Native American communities, and build a financial system that is better able to serve the American people.  Always a fighter, Tim’s return to the Senate floor after a life-threatening brain injury was a powerful moment and his recovery continues to inspire us all.  I look forward to working with Senator Johnson as he finishes his third term, and Michelle and I join the people of South Dakota in wishing Tim, Barbara, and their entire family all the best.

Blog posts on this issue March 27, 2013 5:11 PM EDTJulia Pierson Is Sworn In As First-Ever Female Director of the US Secret Service

During a ceremony in the Oval Office, President Obama praised the veteran agent for her dedication, professionalism and commitment to her work.

March 27, 2013 12:11 PM EDTWhite House Hangout: The Maker Movement

On Thursday, March 28th at 3:00 pm ET, White House innovation advisor Tom Kalil will join a Google+ Hangout to discuss the Maker Movement with leading innovators and Makers from around the country.

March 26, 2013 5:15 PM EDTL.A. Kings and L.A. Galaxy Celebrate Championship Seasons at the White House

It was the second trip in two years for the Galaxy, while the Kings made their first visit after winning their first Stanley Cup in 2012.

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Bronx Borough President, Son Of Homophobic Senator, Comes Out For Marriage Equality

While New York State Sen. Rubén Díaz (D) was leading the anti-marriage equality march on the National Mall yesterday, his son, Bronx Borough President Rubén Díaz Jr. (D), was probably penning the final words for his statement endorsing marriage equality.

On Wednesday, the junior Díaz released a long and personal statement announcing his support for same-sex marriage, which has been the national focus this week as the Supreme Court debates the constitutionality of both the Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8:

“My decision, which comes after years of thought and reflection on the issue, is informed by the experiences I have had with close friends, family and loved ones.

“For example, my chief-of-staff, Paul Del Duca, has for decades worked to help the people of this City. He has helped people find housing and jobs, he has dedicated his professional life to assisting those in need. Why, then, should he and his partner Damion—whose wedding I stood witness to—be denied the same rights of any other loving and committed couple? Moreover, why should my niece, Erica Diaz, be denied the ability to get married when her time comes?

“When marriage equality was made legal in 2011, many opponents predicted that it would have negative consequences. That has certainly not been the case. It is my contention that our city and our state are better off than they were before marriage equality became the law. Not only has our city seen an incredible financial impact from marriage equality, the quality of life for myself, my family and my friends has not suffered one bit.”

Díaz, Jr.’s statement stands in stark contrast to the comments from his father, who has vowed to lead a “war” on same-sex marriages, and has embraced the support of a woman who declared homosexuality more threatening than terrorism and a minister who said gays are worthy of death.

This won’t be the first Díaz family rift. The senior Díaz has continued to disparage marriage equality, even as he acknowledges that he has a gay brother and nephew, and a lesbian granddaughter who has openly condemned him. Still, the State Sen. insists, “We have a very loving family… I love them. They love me. We help each other.”

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UPDATE: Tea Party Senator Rand Paul Embraces Legal Status For Undocumented Immigrants

In the latest sign that comprehensive immigration reform has unprecedented popular and political support, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) endorsed on Tuesday a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants.

The Tea Party favorite is presenting his own plan for reform, and departs from the Senate gang of eight’s plan by opposing the expansion of E-Verify — an error-prone system used by employers to check the legal status of workers. That would be “forcing businesses to become policemen,” Paul said.

His emphasis instead is on making citizenship contingent on meeting certain benchmarks for border security. Since 2007, the security on the border has greatly improved as border crossings are at a 40-year low and the vast majority of the border meets one of Homeland Security’s highest standards of security.

Paul’s plan creates an even longer road to citizenship, beyond the decade proposed by the Senate gang of eight. In year two, immigrants would receive temporary work visas, though Border Patrol, an inspector general and Congress would need to sign off on an improved border situation before other reforms move forward.

“If you wish to live and work in America, then we will find a place for you,” Paul said, according to the Associated Press.

Four months ago, Mitt Romney’s immigration policy was to suggest “self-deportation.” The conversation is at a different point now — Paul acknowledged “we aren’t going to deport” the millions here — showing how fringe the anti-immigrant Republican wing has become.

Rand Paul’s advisers claim the Associated Press report is false, and the senator does not back a path to citizenship. His office said in a statement, “He does not mention ‘path to citizenship’ in his speech at all.” An adviser told the Washington Post, “What his plan is extending to them is a quicker path to normalization, not citizenship, and being able to stay, work and pay taxes legally.”

The headline has been updated.

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GOP senator applauds move to ramp up West Coast missile defense

By Molly K. Hooper - 03/17/13 10:41 AM ET

The top-ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Sunday praised the administration’s decision to bolster the West Coast missile defense, after threats from North Korea.

“I think all of us applaud the efforts to beef up our missile defense on the west coast,” said Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) on “Fox News Sunday” of efforts to deal with the potential nuclear threat from the rogue nation.

The senator, though, acknowledged the threat from North Korea is not “imminent.”

“I don’t think the threat is imminent, I don’t think they have the delivery mechanisms that are necessary to really harm us but I think it’s really good that we’re taking those precautionary measures to make sure they do not do damage,” Corker said.

The ranking member told host Chris Wallace, that he’s going to be speaking with the Pentagon and State Department this week to hash out the “technical issues.”

The administration announced last week that it would augment its missile-defense capabilities in Alaska by deploying additional missile interceptors on the West Coast.

“The reason we're advancing our program here for homeland security is to not take any chances, is to stay ahead of the threat and to assure any contingency,” said Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

The move came after North Korea ramped up its rhetoric against the United States and South Korea and on the heels of a recent nuclear test.

Pyongyang has in recent weeks threatened to declare the end of the armistice which ended the Korean War and criticized new sanctions passed by the United Nations Security Council and military training exercises being held by Seoul and Washington.

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GOP Senator: Republicans Are Open To Tax Increases In Grand Bargain

Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN)

Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) believes Senate Republicans would be open to increasing revenue through tax reform as part of a “grand bargain” to reduce the deficit. During an appearance on Fox News Sunday, Corker argued that entitlement reform should be a top priority, but left the door open to reaching bipartisan consensus on deficit reduction in the next few months.

In past negotiations, the GOP leadership has repeatedly walked away from the table due to unwillingness to reach an agreement that included more revenue and, since the fiscal cliff deal, Republican leaders have insisted that the “the discussion about revenue … is over.”

Host Chris Wallace asked whether Corker and his party would be open to a compromise that include tax increases:

CORKER: I think there–by the way–is a chance on a deal. I know the president is saying the right things and we have an opportunity over the next four-to-five months. I think that we’ll know when the president is serious by virtue of a process is setup where he is actually at the table or he has a designee and whether he begins to say publicly to the American people, to all Americans, that he understands that Americans are only paying one-third of the cost of Medicare and that has to change for the program to be here down the road. But look, Chris, I think Republicans — if they saw true entitlement reform — would be glad to look at tax reform that generates additional revenues. And that doesn’t mean increasing rates, that means closing loopholes. That also means arranging our tax system so that we have economic growth. And I think we’ve been saying that from day one.

Sen. Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL), also on the program, praised Corker’s comments as “honest and constructive,” and noted that the savings need to be done in a way that does not obliterate the system, as would be the case in the “Paul Ryan voucher approach.”

Corker is exaggerating the problems facing the Medicare program. According to the program’s 2012 annual trustee’s report, Medicare’s dedicated revenue fully pays for its costs and will do so until at least 2024. Even then, revenue will cover 87 percent of Medicare costs. At the current pace, by 2086, revenue would only be sufficient to cover 69 percent of costs — but even that 75-year figure would be more than two-thirds of the program’s costs.

The Affordable Care Act both reduced the costs of Medicare by hundreds of billions and improved its coverage for seniors. He has also recommended specific reforms that would save $57 billion annually from Medicare (more even than recommended by the Bowles-Simpson commission) and hundreds of billions in entitlement savings overall.

House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) poured cold water on the idea of increasing taxes during an appearance on Meet The Press, saying, “There are no new tax increases because you don’t need it.”

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Dem Senator Pushes For Change In Military Response To Sexual Assault

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) is bringing the ongoing crisis of sexual assault in the military into the spotlight, hoping to use a recent outrageous case as a springboard to change.

The Senate Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Personnel, chaired by Gillibrand, met on Wednesday to begin the process of reforming the military justice’s handling of sexual assault cases, speaking to panels of both survivors of sexual assault in the military and top military law experts.

Gillibrand appeared on MSNBC on Thursday to present the hearing’s findings, leaving host Andrea Mitchell stunned. Over 19,000 allegations of Military Sexual Trauma (MST) were made in 2011 alone, but as Gillibrand informed Mitchell there were only 2,400 cases where action was taken. The disparity, according to Gillibrand, comes from fear of retaliation and “not being able to stay in the military and having no ability to be promoted.”

Both women shared their disbelief that the military justice system could take such a lax approach to a clear problem:

MITCHELL: I don’t understand the Military Code of Justice, in that it was a reason for dismissal for expulsion from the military until last year, if you violated Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Yet, if you were found guilty in a military court of a criminal assault, of rape, you could go back to your unit. How is that possible?

GILLIBRAND: It’s outrageous and it’s something that should outrage every American. When we look at our best and bravest, our strongest, our most courageous. When you enter the military, you may expect to lose a limb. You may expect to lose your life. But no one should be expecting to be assaulted or raped by one of their colleagues.

Watch their exchange here:

The permissive culture towards sexual violence Gillibrand described was underscored by the testimony of former Sgt. Rebekkah Havrilla. Havrilla told the subcommittee of the U.S. Army’s failure to provide proper assistance following several instances of alleged sexual assault and rape. At one point, an Army chaplain told Havrilla “that the rape was God’s will and that God was trying to get my attention so that I would go back to church.”

“Rape and assault are violent, traumatic crimes, not mistakes, leadership failures or oversights in character,” Anu Bhagwati, Co-Founder of the Service Women’s Action Network told the panel. Bhagwati offered a series of possible reforms to the military criminal justice system to the senators, including opening civil courts to military sexual assault victims.

Currently, the Uniform Military Code of Justice features an article that allows a commanding officer through his or her “convening authority” to overturn the conviction of a jury in courts-martial. Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin used that ability last week to overturn Lt. Col. James Wilkerson’s conviction of sexual assault, waive the one-year prison sentence, and reinstate Wilkerson in the Air Force. Under the law as written, Franklin’s decision can’t be overturned by the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of the Air Force.

Wilkerson’s reinstatement has sparked outrage from both houses of Congress and prompted a review of the statute in question by the Department of Defense’s top lawyers. A bill has already been introduced in the House of Representatives related to the Wilkerson case. Reps. Jackie Spiers (D-CA), Bruce Braley (D-IA), and Patrick Meehan (R-PA) put forward the bill on Tuesday to strip commanders of their ability to overrule juries and lessen sentences.

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Female senator tweets about 'very uncomfortable' screening by TSA

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) complained Monday she was subject to a very uncomfortable screening by TSA. 

McCaskill tweeted about the experience before boarding a flight on Monday. 

The senator, who has complained about the Transportation Security Administration's  security techniques in the past, tweeted that she was selected for a pat down and that the experience was not a pleasant one. 

"?Today in my airport screening, test on my hands was positive," McCaskill wrote to her 89,100 followers. "Got private, more aggressive pat down. OMG. #veryuncomfortable?." 

In 2011, McCaskill referred to TSA pat-downs as "love pats" that she said made her not look forward to flying.

"I try to avoid a pat-down at all costs," McCaskill told TSA Administrator John Pistole during a Senate hearing that year. "There are many times women put their hands on me in a way that if it was your daughter or your sister or your wife, you would be upset."

TSA has come under fire for its security procedures from other lawmakers in the past. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said he was "detained" by TSA for refusing a pat-down last year.

Additionally, former Rep. Francisco "Quico" Canseco (R-Texas) accused the agency of targeting him for additional pat-downs after a run-in at the San Antonio airport. 

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GOP Senator Takes Credit For Anti-Rape Law He Voted Against

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)

Shortly after President Obama signed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) reauthorization into law, Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) released a glowing press release claiming that a “Cornyn bill” to “eliminate nationwide rape kit backlog” was signed into law. The so-called “Cornyn bill” is the SAFER Act, which was incorporated into the VAWA renewal, and which “provide[s] funding for state and local governments to conduct audits of untested DNA evidence and create[s] a national reporting system to help track and prioritize untested rape kits,” according to Cornyn. By all appearances, it seems like a wonderful law. There’s only one problem.

Cornyn voted against it.

Cornyn was one of 22 Senate Republican men who voted against the VAWA renewal. He opposed the bill because he objected to a provision enabling tribal courts to prosecute non-Native Americans who commit rape or other violent crimes against women on Indian reservations. This provision is intended to combat the virtual lawlessness that faces Native American women on these reservations without the VAWA renewal. A 2010 report by the Government Accountability Office found that federal prosecutors “declined to prosecute 46 percent of assault matters and 67 percent of sexual abuse and related matters” on reservations.

(HT: Steve Benen)

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GOP Senator Would Take Away Health Coverage From 30 Million Americans To Avoid Military Cuts

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said Sunday the government should protect the Defense Department from automatic spending cuts by slashing $1.2 trillion from the Affordable Care Act.

During an appearance on Fox News Sunday, Graham suggested that the sequester’s across-the-board cuts to federal spending, including about a roughly 7.5 percent reduction in military spending, would be “destroying the military.” But rather than agree to President Obama’s proposed alternatives to the sequester, the South Carolina Republican said we should save money by eliminating health care for the 30 million people covered by the Affordable Care Act:

CHRIS WALLACE: Let me just ask you one more question about the sequestration before we let you go, Senator. You know if we go into the sequester, the president is going to hammer Republicans, the White House already put out a list of all the things, terrible things that will happen if a sequester kicks in, 70,000 children losing Head Start. 2100 fewer food inspectors and small business will lose $900 million in loan guarantees and you know, Senator, the president will say your party is forcing this to protect tax cuts for the wealthy.

GRAHAM: Well, all i can say is the commander-in-chief thought — came up with the idea of sequestration, destroying the military and putting a lot of good programs at risk. It is my belief — take Obamacare and put it on the table. You can make $86,000 a year in income and still get a government subsidy under Obamacare. Obamacare is destroying health care in this country and people are leaving the private sector, because their companies cannot afford to offer Obamacare and if you want to look at ways to find $1.2 trillion in savings over the next decade, look at Obamacare, don’t destroy the military and cut blindly across the board. There are many ways to do it but the president is the commander-in-chief and on his watch we’ll begin to unravel the finest military in the history of the world, at a time when we need it most. The Iranians are watching us, we are allowing people to be destroyed in Syria, and i’m disappointed in our commander-in-chief.

The draconian cuts to vital programs Graham and other Republicans are demanding, including providing health insurance for the millions of Americans who otherwise would not have it, will hurt the economy and hurt real people.

But Graham’s “solution” also misses a key reality: Obamacare actually reduced the deficit. His proposal to put its elimination on the table would mean increasing the budget deficit by an estimated $109 billion over the same 10-year period, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.

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Statement by the President on Senator Lautenberg

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For Immediate Release February 14, 2013 Statement by the President on Senator Lautenberg

Frank is a steadfast champion of the people of New Jersey. Throughout his time in the Senate, Frank has fought tirelessly for workers, veterans, members of our military and their families, and immigrants, and he continues to make extraordinary contributions to our nation’s safety, and the health and welfare of our citizens. His service in World War II is a testament to his character and deep commitment to public service. I look forward to working with Frank on critical issues before us these next two years, and Michelle and I wish him and Bonnie all the best.

Blog posts on this issue February 15, 2013 6:41 PM ESTPresident Obama Welcomes Italian President Napolitano

The two leaders discussed the world economy and President Obama's plan to pursue a U.S.-European Union free trade agreement, which was mentioned in his State of the Union address earlier this week.

February 15, 2013 6:32 PM ESTWeekly Wrap Up: “We Don’t Give Up”

Here’s a quick glimpse at what happened this week on WhiteHouse.gov.

February 15, 2013 4:45 PM ESTOpen For Questions: The State of the Union and Immigration Reform

Cecilia Muñoz, Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, answers questions from the public about immigration reform and President Obama's State of the Union Address in an “Open for Questions” session moderated by Elianne Ramos from LATISM.

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Pennsylvania GOP Senator: Rigging The Presidential Election Is What The Framers Would Have Done

Shortly after the Democratic presidential candidate won the White House last November, Pennsylvania state Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R) announced a plan to keep that from happening again in the future. Under Pileggi’s plan, the blue state of Pennsylvania would award electoral votes proportionally according to the popular vote, so that a percentage of it electors will go to the Republican candidate even if a majority of Pennsylvania’s voters prefer the Democrat. Meanwhile, red states would continue to award all of their electors to the Republican.

In response to an inquiry from ThinkProgress, state Sen. Mike Folmer’s (R) office explained that he supports this plan to rig the next presidential race because he believes it to be more consistent with the Founding Fathers’ vision. Seriously:

Senator Folmer believes such changes would be consistent with how electoral votes were originally awarded under our constitutional republic.

When the Electoral College was established by the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the individual states were empowered to determine how their electors would be chosen. The Founding Fathers rejected the idea of a national popular vote because they feared the rights and interests of the minority could be trampled by the majority. This is why the term “democracy” does not appear in either the Declaration of Independence or the United States Constitution.

From the first Presidential election of 1788 – 1789 through the election of 1800, the states’ electoral votes were awarded proportionally. After the bitter election of 1800, states began to move to a winner take all system – even though the citizens of that era considered such a change to be blatantly political. By 1836, all states had moved to a winner take all system.

Folmer is correct that Pileggi’s plan is more like the anti-democratic methods used to pick our first presidents, although he is wrong about many of the details of how early elections were run. In the first presidential election in 1788-89, just six states used some form of a popular vote to select the members of the Electoral College. Three states delegated this power entirely to their legislatures, although only about 30 percent of South Carolina’s lawmakers even bothered to show up to choose the first president. New Jersey’s governor unilaterally selected the electors in his state.

Moreover, this pattern of cutting the people out of the presidential election was common in early American elections. Six states held a popular election in 1792; eight held one in 1796; and just five held a popular vote in 1800. And the “popular” elections from this era cannot even vaguely be described as democratic. Just over 13,000 people voted in the 1792 election that reelected President George Washington — out of a nation of 3.9 million people. Needless to say, the 700,000 persons held in bondage at this point in American history did not cast a ballot.

So Folmer is right that Pileggi’s effort to cut the American people out of the opportunity to choose their own president is more like the system that elected our first presidents than our current system. The real question is why he thinks moving back to the anti-democratic days of the past is a good thing.

Sen. Folmer’s full statement is copied below the fold:

Senator Folmer has previously cosponsored Senator Pileggi’s proposed changes to Pennsylvania’s Electoral College voting because Senator Folmer believes such changes would be consistent with how electoral votes were originally awarded under our constitutional republic.

When the Electoral College was established by the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the individual states were empowered to determine how their electors would be chosen. The Founding Fathers rejected the idea of a national popular vote because they feared the rights and interests of the minority could be trampled by the majority. This is why the term “democracy” does not appear in either the Declaration of Independence or the United States Constitution.

From the first Presidential election of 1788 – 1789 through the election of 1800, the states’ electoral votes were awarded proportionally. After the bitter election of 1800, states began to move to a winner take all system – even though the citizens of that era considered such a change to be blatantly political. By 1836, all states had moved to a winner take all system.

In 1991, Nebraska’s nonpartisan legislature returned to proportional awarding of Electoral College votes to increase interest among that state’s voters. In 2008, Maine followed suit. According to Reuters, the law “was instrumental in getting Nebraskans excited about the 2008 presidential election” and the same was true in Maine.

Of course, Senator Folmer believes any changes to the current system should be publicly deliberated to ensure all viewpoints are given proper consideration.

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VIEWPOINT: How A Very Smart Senator Showed Us Everything Wrong With The Modern GOP In One Week

It shouldn’t have been this way.

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) is an undeniably smart man. Cruz is by all accounts a brilliant litigator, one talented enough in the courtroom to clerk for a Supreme Court justice and win a number of difficult cases as Texas’ Solicitor General. It wouldn’t have been crazy to expect that Cruz would bring a degree of argumentative rigor into the Senate after his victory in the 2012 election.

Well, Cruz had two golden opportunities to showcase his keen analytical mind, as he sits on both Senate committees that held high profile hearings last week, one on gun violence prevention, the other on Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE)’s nomination to be Secretary of Defense. And Cruz distinguished himself alright. Just not in the way one might have hoped.

The Senator misrepresented official documents to the point of falsehood, placed the words of an raving call-in viewer on a television show in Hagel’s mouth, and played “six degrees of guilt by association” with Hagel’s record in a manner that would make Sen. Joe McCarthy blush. And yet, Cruz’ behavior, embarrassing as it was, was by no means irrational. Rather, it’s a perfect illustration of how the Republican Party’s internal structure, particularly its allied media and electoral base, incentivizes the replacement of real policy thinking with fact-free paranoic fantasism.

Let’s begin with Cruz’ monologue at the gun hearing. The proposed assault weapons ban bore the brunt of his ire. He leaned heavily what he claimed were two Department of Justice papers — one from what he sneeringly characterized as the “Janet Reno Department of Justice under President Clinton” — that had proven the 1994 ban failed to reduce gun violence. In his words, the Senate was about “to reenact a law that, according to the Department of Justice, did absolutely nothing to reduce gun violence.”

Literally every claim in that sentence is false.

First, the Senate is not “reenacting” the 1994 ban. The law proposed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) closes a series of loopholes that even gun regulation proponents admit limited the first ban’s effectiveness. Second, the studies in question were not official judgments of the Department of Justice, as Cruz says, but research by Professor Christopher S. Koper supported by the Department.

Which brings to the third, and most important, point: any fair reading of Koper’s work suggests Cruz has entirely mischaracterized its findings about the ban – a reading shared by Prof. Koper himself. Koper’s research found, among other things, clear evidence that the 1994 ban limited criminal access to assault weapons as well more tentative evidence that assault weapon shootings were more deadly. While it’s true the studies didn’t find evidence that the bans reduced the homicide rate, they didn’t, as Cruz suggests, conclude from that that the ban didn’t work. Rather, Koper said that he didn’t have enough data, given that the ban was only in effect for ten years, to prove for one way or another. That’s why Koper, in a 2004 op-ed, referred to the then-expiring ban as a “work in progress” rather than, as Cruz suggested, a failure. And the assault weapons ban is far from the only issue on which Cruz did violence to the facts in the gun hearing.

As fact-free as Cruz’ diatribe during the guns hearing was, it had nothing on his performance the following day during Senator Hagel’s confirmation. During the excruciatingly long proceedings, Cruz had three chances to interrogate Hagel, each time resorting to grosser distortions of the former Senator’s statements to prove that Hagel was every Israeli’s worst nightmare.

In round one, Cruz played a tape of a rather concerned man calling into a talk show on which Hagel was a guest. The video was spliced to make it appear Hagel agreed with the ranter’s accusation of “war crimes in Palestine.” In reality, Hagel was endorsing, on the program host’s instruction, the need for “moral leadership” by the United States and Russia on nuclear arms reduction, a point made clear by his reference in the full clip to President Obama and then-President Medvedev. After Hagel said he did not believe Israel was committing war crimes, and asked for the full context of the clip, Cruz lied, saying “that was the full context.”

Cruz’ second attempt to cast Hagel as Israeli Public Enemy #1 was equally dishonest. Cruz ventriloquized the claim that Israel had committed a “sickening slaughter” in Lebanon into Hagel’s mouth, even though, as Dave Weigel points out, Hagel was condemning deaths in war themselves rather than Israel’s behavior. And his third sally, a failed attempt to tar Hagel with the views on Israel of someone on the board of an organization he chairs (yes, it’s that remote), struck The New Republic‘s John Judis as “classic McCarthy tactics.”

Judged kindly, Cruz’ performance in each of these two hearings was aggressively inaccurate. Judged more harshly (and accurately), it was mendacious demagoguery at its finest.

So why would Cruz, an intelligent man, resort to such dishonest tactics? There are certainly no shortage of ways to make the case against gun regulation or Chuck Hagel without mischaracterizing research or wrenching stray comments out of context.

But that’s not nearly as fun.

Guns and Israel are two issues of paramount importance to staple GOP voting blocs. These voters don’t want mealy-mouthed, hedged defenses of their positions — as evidenced by the Great RINO Purge of the past few election cycles. Rather, these voters want Republicans who see the world as they do: President Obama and the Democrats are attempting to attack their fundamental liberties and eliminate America’s “exceptional” global role, most prominently by “throwing Israel under the bus.” For these voters, the Assault Weapons Ban isn’t just bad policy; it’s a nefarious, unconstitutional gun grab that strikes at the heart of American liberty. Chuck Hagel hasn’t been more qualified in his support for Israel than Republicans would like; he’s an anti-Semite.

Cruz rode this apocalyptic mood to power, pairing a worldview extreme enough to please the base with packaging just well enough to make him acceptable to more establishment folks. As Mother Jones‘ Tim Murphy writes in a profile of the Senator, “Cruz’s greatest asset is that he lives in both worlds;” he’s “an intellectual face on a movement and ideology that have long simmered beneath the Republican mainstream.” Cruz pioneered a marriage between extreme ideas with a manner of expression that allows the party’s “respectable” thought leaders to support it.

Understanding the central dynamic of Cruz’ political strategy is the key to unlocking his intellectually abysmal outings at the Senate last week. His base wants the fireworks, but straight-up calling Hagel an anti-Semite on the Senate floor might be a bit much. So Cruz wraps up more extreme versions of his arguments in intellectual-sounding garb, citing studies and TV clips that are just good enough to justify his firebreathing.

Now, this strategy would fail if the conservative media said base relies on weren’t interested in playing along to Cruz’ tune. But the writers who are supposed to serve as conservatism’s intellectual gatekeepers lapped it up. “It would be hard to do much better,” National Review‘s Peter Kirsanow wrote, “than one of Hagel’s interlocutors — Senator Ted Cruz.” In response to criticism of Cruz’s arguments as, well, totally made up, Kirsanow scoffed. “Cruz should be pleased to be the subject of such scorn. Smart, principled, aggressive, conservative Republicans are subject to special opprobrium from Beltway elites.”

Kirsanow was far from the only one. “Sorry I missed @tedcruz carving up Chuck Hagel on TV like a roast,” tweeted RedState editor and Fox News contributor Erick Erickson. “Cruz showed what happens when preparation, talent, and discipline come together,” gushed Pete Spiliakos at the theoconservative journal First Things. Commentary’s Jonathan Tobin enthused that “tough questioning” from Cruz and other Republicans exposed “Hagel’s pose as a consistent and ardent friend of Israel and foe of Iran…to be nothing but a hastily constructed façade that doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.” These are but a few examples from a vast ocean.

This adulation illustrates just how deeply rooted GOP dysfunction is. The Republican base elects someone like Cruz, who’s extreme enough to have suggested the United Nations was coming for America’s golf courses. Cruz, who’s not only a ideological member of the base but beholden to it, brings its unsupportable ideas and implacably hostile attitude to the center of the Republican party. And he’s rewarded not just by adulation from his supporters, but widespread praise from the ostensibly serious conservative commentariat. There’s just no incentive for any Republican to speak out against the party’s descent into paranoia, and every reason to believe you’ll be rewarded by giving into it.

So if you want to know why the Republican Party will remain broken for the foreseeable future, go watch the Ted Cruz game tape from this week. And try to think how it could have been otherwise.

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