DWS: Obama’s Israel trip puts lie to “utter fabrication of Republican Jews”

@MarcACaputo

Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Broward congresswoman, was at President Obama’s side during his trip to Israel and sounded ready to do a victory lap.

The president’s Israel trip brought enthusiastic crowds and positive coverage. And he’s the first sitting president to be awarded the nation’s top civilian honor, the Medal of Distinction.

So what happened to all the talk about tensions between Israel and Obama?

Wasserman Schultz: "Those criticisms were always nothing more than utter fabrications by Republican Jews in America who never supported Barack Obama and did everything they could to defeat him. And they were unsuccessful because the Jewish community in America overwhelmingly supports the ideals and values of the Democratic Party and strongly supports Barack Obama….”

“It would be hard for me to overemphasize the enthusiasm and warmth in which President Obama was received here – and also just in observing the interaction between him and Prime Minister Netanyahu, their back and forth, their interactions. Last night at the state dinner I sat two feet from them. They were engaged the whole evening speaking to each other – it was such a shot in the arm for our relationship and the friendship between our two countries.”

President Obama's Miami-bound March 29 to talk economy

@MarcACaputo

President Obama is hitting the non-campaign-season campaign-like trail to stump on the economy in Miami, according to White House officials. He's scheduled to appear March 29. Further details (times, locations) will be posted as soon as they're available.

John Morgan, Obama fundraiser and Crist boss, to lead medical-pot initiative in FL

@MarcACaputo

John Morgan, a major President Obama fundraiser and the boss of former Gov. Charlie Crist, is taking the reins of a Florida medical marijuana initiative, promising to pump major money and political muscle into the popular issue.

Morgan, a top Florida trial lawyer based in Orlando, said he's ready to tap a network of donors and his personal bank account to get the measure in front of voters in 2014 as a proposed constitutional amendment.

“I can get the money. I have the money. I will be joined by people with money who will help,” said Morgan. “I’ve been very fortunate in life, and I can make it happen.”

It could cost as much as $3.5 million to fund paid-petition gatherers to collect the valid signatures of 683,149 Florida voters needed to get a measure on the ballot. An ad and absentee-ballot campaign could cost up to $10 million more.

Constitutional amendments need to be approved in Florida with 60 percent of the vote.

Morgan said he hasn't spoken about the issue with Crist or Obama, with whom he had dinner Monday. And, he said, he doesn’t care whether they support it or not.

Crist, a Republican-turned-independent-turned Democrat, is considering a run for governor. He wouldn’t return calls for comment.

The Barack Obama-Rick Scott sequestration blame files: HUD, DOD, HHS cuts

@MarcACaputo

Two days ago, Gov. Rick Scott wrote President Obama attacking the Democrat for the federal-spending cuts known as the sequestration:

"If your administration fails to do its job to responsibly manage the budget, thousands of Floridians will lose their jobs under sequestration. There is no doubt that budget cuts must be made at the national level, just as we do here at the state level. But, it is the responsibility of the administration to administer spending reductions responsibly. Instead of cutting with a scalpel, your sequestration process is a meat cleaver..."

Now, the administration is responding with a series of blame-Congress letters. Under the 2011 debt deal hammered out between Obama and Congress, the sequestration cuts kicked in because Congress couldn't come up with a deficit-reduction agreement.

Scott's administration was today sent multiple letters concerning cuts to Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense and Housing and Urban Development. A sample from the HHS letter:

"As you are likely aware, due to the failure of Congress to reach a deal on balanced deficit reduction to avoid sequestration, a series of spending cuts called sequestration will cancel approximately $85 billion in budgetary resources across the federal government for the remainder of the federal fiscal year….

"In the context of sequestration, an estimated 2,700 children in your state are expected to lose access to head Start and Early Head Start services as a result of a reduction of $15.8 million in funding. The funding reduction could disrupt services for children and families, as some Head Start centers would need to close their classrooms early this school year or reopen their programs late in the fall. Programs may have to cut services, staff, and classrooms of the current school year in order to operate under the reduced funding level. This impact would be felt by community and faith-based organizations, small businesses, local governments, and school systems forced to lay off teachers, teacher assistants, and other staff."

Earlier, Scott in Orlando said the first cuts should be experienced by Obama and Congress:

“You know right now, this is the first day of sequestration. I don’t believe Congress or the President should continue to get paid while they haven’t solved this problem. We’ve had to balance our budget in our state. We’ve had to watch how we spend money. We’ve had to live within our means. And we didn’t do it with a meat cleaver; we did it with a scalpel. We watched what we could do agency by agency. The federal government needs to do the same thing. They should not be paid while they don’t solve this problem.”

And on it goes.

The letters:

Download Letter to President Obama

Download DOD

Download HHS

Download HUD

Rick Scott to Obama: Prevent sequestration

Florida Gov. Rick Scott fired off a sharply worded letter to President Barack Obama that puts the pressure on the White House to prevent the sequester, or massive budget cuts, scheduled to go into effect Friday.

“If your administration fails to do its job to responsibly manage the budget, thousands of Floridians will lose their jobs," Scott wrote (and yes, the italicized emphasis is his own).

The governor goes on to express concerns about the effects sequestration could have on Florida's military installations and the greater defense industry across the state. He encourages Obama to replace these cuts with reductions in other areas of government, but doesn't say where.

Obama is scheduled to meet with top congressional leaders on Friday to discuss the spending cuts. So far, efforts to reach a compromise to avoid the sequester have not been fruitful. Tuesday, Scott issued a statement blaming both sides for failing to reach a deal.

“Sequestration means the Obama Administration and Congress failed to do their job to manage the budget," Scott said, in part. "As thousands of Floridians lose their jobs, the Obama Administration and Congress are getting paid for not doing theirs. That’s just wrong."

Download Letter to President Obama on Sequestration

Rick Scott welcomes Janet Napolitano on MIA visit: Get Customs to do a better job

@MarcACaputo

Following up a letter he sent to Janet Napolitano in September, Gov. Rick Scott welcomes the Homeland Security chief to Miami International Airport with the same request: Please adequately staff the airport with the proper number of customs officials.

To recap: MIA built a new facility for Customs and Border Patrol to process international passengers. But Napolitano's agency hasn't adequately staffed it, according to Scott and local officials.

"CBP has not been able to meet the necessary staffing numbers in the new facility. As a result, customers, often numbering well over 1,000 daily, and their baggage are misconnected and must be re-booked on later flights, many leaving the next day," Scott wrote in September and today.

Napolitano has been responsive to Scott in one regard: She's showing up today at the airport.

Here's his letter last year. And here's this one Download Letter

Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2012/09/rick-scott-to-janet-napolitano-come-to-miami-lack-of-customs-agents-could-damage-floridas-image.html#storylink=cpy

Dept. of Make Nice: Presient Obama calls Sens. Rubio, McCain and Graham

The (kabuki-like?) tensions between President Obama and Sen. Marco Rubio over immigration reform started to abate Tuesday afternoon when the commander in chief called the Florida Republican as well as Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain.

Rubio over the weekend bashed the White House for, in his view, leaking draft immigration-reform legislation to USA Today. The White House insisted it didn't. The Herald published the text of the legislation in this story which has the background over the back and forth.

Here's the White House statement:

This afternoon, the President placed calls to Senator Graham, Senator McCain, and Senator Rubio to discuss their shared commitment to bipartisan, commonsense immigration reform and to commend the Senators for the bipartisan progress that continues to be made by the Gang of 8 on this important issue. During the calls, which build on conversations that have taken place at the staff level, the President reiterated that he remains supportive of the effort underway in Congress, and that he hopes that they can produce a bill as soon as possible that reflects shared core principles on reform. The President has made clear that he believes commonsense reform needs to include strengthening border security, creating an earned path to citizenship, holding employers accountable, and streamlining legal immigration. As the President made clear when he met with Democratic Senators involved in the process last week, that while he is pleased with the progress and supportive of the effort to date, he is prepared to submit his own legislation if Congress fails to act.  He thanked the Senators for their leadership, and made clear that he and his staff look forward to continuing to work together with their teams to achieve needed reform.

The President did not speak with Senator Flake, who is traveling, but he looks forward to discussing the issue with him in the near future.

President Obama's immigration bills fray nerves but show similarities with Marco Rubio

President Obama’s administration drafted legislation this month that could give undocumented immigrants a pathway to citizenship in eight years, require employers to check workers’ immigration status and increase penalties for those who break immigration law.

The ideas appear in three separate draft bills, obtained Monday by The Miami Herald, that closely resemble many of the reforms advanced in 2011 by Obama and, more recently, by Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

Both Rubio and Obama, for instance, support special pathways to residency for those students and soldiers who were brought illegally to this country as children. In the White House draft legislation, the proposal closely resembles what’s known as the DREAM Act.

But in a sign of the politically fragile talks over immigration reform, Rubio reacted with a measure of fury Saturday when the proposals were first reported by USA Today.

“The President’s bill repeats the failures of past legislation,” the statement continued. “It fails to follow through on previously broken promises to secure our borders, creates a special pathway that puts those who broke our immigration laws at an advantage over those who chose to do things the right way and come here legally.”

Marco Rubio trashes President Obama's immigration plan as DOA

That didn't take long. A few hours after President Obama proposed an immigration plan, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio trashed it.

How much of this is real, and how much political posturing?

The press release:

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) issued the following statement regarding new details about President Obama’s immigration plan, as first reported by USA Today.

“It’s a mistake for the White House to draft immigration legislation without seeking input from Republican members of Congress. President Obama’s leaked immigration proposal is disappointing to those of us working on a serious solution. The President’s bill repeats the failures of past legislation. It fails to follow through on previously broken promises to secure our borders, creates a special pathway that puts those who broke our immigration laws at an advantage over those who chose to do things the right way and come here legally, and does nothing to address guest workers or future flow, which serious immigration experts agree is critical to preventing future influxes of illegal immigrants.

“Much like the President’s self-described ‘stop gap’ Deferred Action measure last year, this legislation is half-baked and seriously flawed. It would actually make our immigration problems worse, and would further undermine the American people’s confidence in Washington’s ability to enforce our immigration laws and reform our broken immigration system.

“If actually proposed, the President’s bill would be dead on arrival in Congress, leaving us with unsecured borders and a broken legal immigration system for years to come.”

Obama's new immigration plan: 8-year pathway to permanent residency for the undocumented

President Obama won bipartisan praise for his tone on immigration during his State of the Union speech. Now he's putting some of those ideas on paper. So far, it's the most-specific comprehensive-immigration reform plan proposed. It fills in details of his May 2011 plan, which Florida Sen. Marco Rubio adopted in large part.

USA Today:

A draft of a White House immigration proposal obtained by USA TODAY would allow illegal immigrants to become legal permanent residents within eight years.

The plan also would provide for more security funding and require business owners to check the immigration status of new hires within four years. In addition, the nation's 11 million illegal immigrants could apply for a newly created "Lawful Prospective Immigrant" visa, under the bill being written by the White House.....

According to the White House draft, people would need to pass a criminal background check, submit biometric information and pay fees to qualify for the new visa. If approved, they would be allowed to legally reside in the U.S., work and leave the country for short periods of time.

Illegal immigrants would be disqualified from the program if they were convicted of a crime that led to a prison term of at least one year, three or more different crimes that resulted in a total of 90 days in jail, or if they committed any offense abroad that "if committed in the United States would render the alien inadmissible or removable from the United States."

More here