Three issues we all should take notice of…

Three Issues We all should take notice of…

Senators and representatives won’t have their own pay cut as part of the “sequester.” The cuts could still hit close to home for Congress. As the rest of the federal government prepares for furloughs, layoffs and sweeping budget cuts caused by the “sequester,” the people who could prevent the cuts are the ones whose paychecks are protected: members of Congress.

The 27th Amendment to the constitution — intended to prevent members of Congress from voting themselves a pay raise — also prohibits them from taking a pay cut until after the next election.
Congress will feel the pain in other ways. Members’ office budgets, committee staff and leadership offices will all see the same across-the-board cuts as any other discretionary, non-defense spending.

Other legislative branch functions — the Capitol Visitor Center, the Library of Congress’s Books for the Blind program, even the Capitol Police — would take cuts of about 9%, according to a report from the Office of Management and Budget.

In the House, each representative gets an annual office budget of about $1.5 million — more for members from expensive and faraway districts.

Some congressional offices may feel the cuts more deeply than others. A USA TODAY analysis of 2011 congressional spending showed that 40% of House members had spent more than 90% of their office budgets — and Congress has cut its own budgets by about 8% since then. Additional cuts imposed by the sequester could force these offices to lay off staff or implement other cost-cutting strategies.

In 2011, Congress passed — and President Obama signed into law — the Budget Control Act, which required the across-the-board cuts of $1.2 trillion as a way to motivate lawmakers to find some other way of reducing the nation’s budget deficit. They didn’t. We’ll say they didn’t…not even close.

Much of the $85 billion cost savings this year will come through furloughs, the administration has said. As many as 800,000 civilian employees in the Defense Department will have to take 22 days of unpaid leave before Oct. 1. Active-duty military and civilian defense employees in combat zones are exempt, as are senior political appointees in the Obama administration who don’t fall under federal civil service rules.

The Executive Office of the President is subject to the sequester, but White House spokesman Jay Carney — while warning of the dire effects of agency cuts — declined to elaborate on how the presidency would be impacted. Again, the president’s salary wouldn’t be cut.

Immigration News

We found the guts of this story from USA Today. Interesting read from subscriber’s of Facebook.

Legal immigrants like me had to stand in a long queue for quite some time to get a green card and then citizenship while paying taxes and being a good citizen. The so-called illegal folks can do the same.
Circumventing the process for folks who broke the law knowingly is rewarding bad behavior. It’s also a slap on the face for legal immigrants who followed the laws to become citizens.

Manoj Nampoothiry

No pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants. The federal government should do its job and enforce our immigration laws. Deport all illegal aliens, secure the border and fine anyone who hires an illegal alien. Immigration reform should change the laws so that anyone who hires an illegal immigrant will be liable for the cost of deporting the employee and his or her family.

Charles Edward Brown

There are a lot of rational proposals on immigration reform, which is needed.
It would be nice if Democrats and Republicans could come together on this, and it looks as if that is possible. Let’s get it done.

Jerome Mansfield

Letter to the editor:

Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., was quoted in your article “Some attending Obama speech are in the U.S. illegally” saying of his State of the Union guest, Gabino Sanchez, who is facing deportation, “What do you say to Gabino’s 7-year-old son and his 2-year-old son?”

What you say to them is, “Your father broke the law, and in our country there are consequences for people who break the law.” We send many citizens to jail every day, which causes great hardship for their children. Why would it be any different for children of illegal immigrants?

Oops! That’s only two for now of the original three issues. The third issue is about “An evening with the Oscars” but it is comprehensive with original source material, experiences, and quotes from those in the industry. In short that article is a post all by itself and we hope to run it tomorrow.  Thank you!

About these ads