House Dems vote to block tax compromise
WASHINGTON, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- House Democrats Thursday voted to block a tax deal reached by U.S. President Obama and Republicans, indicating fierce opposition within the president's party.
The House Democratic caucus adopted a non-binding resolution via voice vote, saying the bill agreed to by the White House and the GOP should not reach the House floor, The Washington Post reported.
"House Democrats share the president's commitment to providing the middle class with a tax cut to grow the economy and create jobs" but "reject the Senate Republican tax provisions as currently written," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "We will continue discussions with the president and our Democratic and Republican colleagues in the days ahead to improve the proposal before it comes to the House floor for a vote."
"People would like to see every opportunity to make revisions, and I'm one of them," said House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., while Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, said flatly, "If it's take it or leave it, we'll leave it."
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Thursday Obama "understands that there are parts of the agreement that Democrats don't like" and noted the plan also contains provisions "Republicans don't like."
"If there are ways to strengthen the framework that are agreeable to everybody and strengthen the coalition, that's good," Gibbs said. "I think that's something that we'd have to hear -- I think that's something that House Democrats are going to have to talk about in terms of what they want to do and what they want to see.
"I mean, obviously, as I said yesterday in response to several questions, if everybody took out what they didn't like, we wouldn't -- we would have nothing."
Gibbs said the "bottom line, though, is that we will have a vote that will not result in people's taxes going up by the end of the year."
'Don't ask, don't tell' fails Senate test
WASHINGTON, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Efforts to repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy against gays and lesbians lost a procedural vote in the U.S. Senate Thursday, 57-40.
Democrats needed 60 votes to begin consideration of the 2011 defense authorization bill, which included the "don't ask, don't tell" repeal proposal.
The Washington Post reported Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., had been involved in negotiations all week with Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Joseph Lieberman, Ind-Conn., to push the bill through before the end of the lame-duck session by allowing five of 10 proposed Republican amendments to be added.
"We've tried every possible way to do this," Reid said before the vote.
President Barack Obama supports repeal of the policy, which prohibits gays and lesbians from openly serving in the military. A federal judge has ruled the policy unconstitutional, but Obama and Pentagon officials prefer a legislative solution that would allow for a more orderly implementation of a new policy.
"History will hold these senators accountable and so will many of their constituents," said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. "There will be no place for these senators to hide. The Senate and the president must remain in session and in Washington to find another path for repeal to get done in the lame-duck."
Thursday's vote makes it more likely Obama will have to take some action, possibly by directing the Department of Justice to stop appealing the judge's order or by issuing an executive order ending expulsion of gays from the military.
In a statement issued by the White House following the Senate vote, Obama said he was "extremely disappointed" in the vote and urged the Senate to revisit the issue during the lame-duck session. Obama said the law "weakens our national security, diminishes our military readiness, and violates fundamental American principles of fairness, integrity and equality."
"Despite having the bipartisan support of a clear majority of senators, a minority of senators are standing in the way of the funding upon which our troops, veterans and military families depend," the president said.
Charge: Bosnian Serb lied about war crimes
MILWAUKEE, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- A Bosnian Serb lied on immigration forms about his role in a police unit that took part in a massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims, U.S. prosecutors allege.
Mladjen Cvijanovic, 46, a Milwaukee resident now held in a county jail, faces up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and likely deportation if convicted of immigration fraud.
His detention is set for Friday.
Cvijanovic, who applied for refugee status in 2002, told federal investigators he lied about his police service and residency in Bosnia on immigration forms so he could bring his daughters to the United States, the complaint alleges.
He said his only military service had been mandatory service in the former Yugoslavia, where he said he worked as a cook, the complaint cited by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel states.
He also said he had not been involved in the persecution of anyone.
Under U.S. law, anyone involved in any way with the persecution of another person because of race, religion or nationality cannot be considered a refugee.
While prosecutors don't suggest Cvijanovic is suspected of killing anyone, they say he was allegedly a Bosnian Serb police officer assigned with 29 other members of his unit to aid Bosnian Serb military forces in a July 1995 invasion of Srebrenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina, during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War.
An estimated 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys trying to flee Srebrenica were killed in the invasion, including parents forced to watch soldiers kill their children, CNN reported in 2006.
The people's bodies were buried in mass graves in Europe's worst massacre of civilians since World War II.
vijanovic's lawyer, Jeffrey W. Jensen, told the Journal Sentinel prosecutors will have to present more evidence to prove Cvijanovic lied on his immigration forms.
Protesters attack Prince of Wales' car
LONDON, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Crowds protesting a U.K. government decision to raise tuition fees attacked a car carrying Prince Charles and his wife in London Thursday, officials said.
The prince and his wife Camilla were unharmed as the window of the car was smashed and the car was covered in paint, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Witnesses said the couple became separated from their police escort as they drove through and found themselves in the midst of crowds who had just left a protest in Trafalgar Square.
The protests come as the British Parliament has voted to allow English universities to triple fees beginning in 2012.
Nine police officers have been seriously injured in the resultant violence, officials said.
Police were attempting to keep protesters away from the gates of Parliament itself.
"Protesters will be allowed sight and sound of Parliament," Metropolitan Police Superintendent Julia Pendry said. "However, there is evidence to suggest a number of people will come to London intent on causing violence and disorder.
"They are jumping on the bandwagon of these demonstrations with no intention to protest or interest in student tuition fees. This is of concern to us.
"Those who come to London for peaceful protest will be policed proportionately and appropriately," she said. "But those who are intent on committing crime will also be dealt with and they will suffer the consequences of their actions."
Obamas light National Christmas Tree
WASHINGTON, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- President Barack Obama, joined by first lady Michelle Obama and their two children, pulled a switch Thursday to light the National Christmas Tree in Washington.
"This is a very proud holiday tradition," the president told an audience on the Ellipse in chilly Washington, just before lighting the 42-foot Colorado blue spruce. "Snow or shine, in good times and in periods of hardship, folks like you have gathered with presidents to light our national tree.
"Often, the ceremony itself has reflected the pain and sacrifice of the times," he said. "There were years during the second world war when no lights were hung, in order to save electricity.
"But without fail, each year, we have gathered here," he said. "Each year we've come together to celebrate a story that has endured for two millennia. It's a story that's dear to Michelle and me as Christians, but it's a message that's universal: A child was born far from home to spread a simple message of love and redemption to every human being around the world."
The president said the message of Christmas "says no matter who we are or where we are from, no matter the pain we endure or the wrongs we face, we are called to love one another as brothers and as sisters."
Earlier Thursday the president met with his Export Council, received daily briefings with Vice President Joe Biden and met with senior advisers and with Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
