• Congressman Salud Carbajal (D), who represents the Central Coast’s 24th District, co-sponsored the Statue of Liberty Values (SOLVe) Act. The bill, which was introduced by California Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose) on Jan. 30, nullifies and blocks the use of any federal funds to implement or enforce Trump’s executive order that blocks immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim nations—Syria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, and Sudan. “President Trump’s overly broad executive order only serves to fuel anti-American sentiment and propaganda, putting our national security at risk,” Carbajal said in a public statement.
• California Sen. Kamala Harris (D) joined fellow Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) calling for President Trump to revoke the Jan. 27 executive order that bans nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East. “The text of this document and its haphazard implementation both run counter to our American values and the Constitution, as well as our national security and economic interests,” senators Harris and Murray wrote in an open letter issued on Jan. 30. The letter asserted that the controversial executive order is a ban on Muslims. However, Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said at a news conference in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 31 that the order is not a ban on Muslims and only blocks nationals from those seven countries—Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, and Libya—from entering the U.S. for 90 days, according to NPR.
• The Senate Judiciary Committee confirmed Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) as the new U.S. attorney general on Feb. 1, but not without a fight from the committee’s Democrats, including California Sen. Diane Feinstein, who is a ranking member. Sessions, who was nominated by Trump for the job, is also a member of the committee. Sessions nevertheless drew extreme opposition from his Democratic colleagues who challenged his views on immigration, women’s health care, and his civil rights record when he was a U.S. attorney general for the Southern District of Alabama in the 1980s. Citing a Washington Post article, Feinstein accused Sessions of being behind the “shock and awe” campaign of executive orders signed by Trump in the first week of being president, including one that bars refugees and nationals from seven majority-Muslim countries. “The president’s nominee, a colleague of ours for some 20 years, is well known for his positions and point of view,” Feinstein said in her closing statements during a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Jan. 31. “It is very difficult to reconcile, for me, the independence necessary for the position of attorney general with the partisanship this nominee has demonstrated.” The vote was supposed to take place that day but, like Feinstein, other committee Democrats instead took their turns reading speeches objecting to Sessions’ nomination, effectively delaying the vote for at least one day. But it didn’t last too long. The committee voted 11-9 for Sessions, with the vote split along party lines. Sessions heads to the Republican-dominated U.S. Senate, where he needs a final confirmation vote and is expected to face another challenge with Democrat filibusters (basically extended speeches intended to obstruct legislative progress). Sessions needs at least 60 votes to win the confirmation, including from eight Democrats, however Republicans can vote to do away with filibusters and go with the so-called “nuclear option,” or a simple majority.
• California lawmakers have continued resistance against the Donald Trump administration. State legislators fast-tracked two bills that aim to make California a “sanctuary state,” or one that promises not to help federal immigration officials seek and deport undocumented immigrants. According to the San Jose Mercury News, one bill would prohibit local police from collecting information on a person’s immigration status or responding to certain requests by federal agents. The the other bill would use tax dollars to fund legal aid for those fighting deportation.
This article appears in Feb 9-16, 2017.