Financial regs bill fails to advance again
WASHINGTON, April 27 (UPI) -- A second attempt to move along legislation that would reform the U.S. financial system failed in the Senate Tuesday on a 57-41 vote.
Once again, a vote to start formal debate on the bill fell three votes shy of the necessary 60 votes to avoid a filibuster. A vote to advance the bill failed Monday by the same 57-41 vote with all Republicans present voting against ending cloture to allow formal debate to begin. On both days, Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., joined Republicans.
The Republicans' refusal to allow debate on the bill "is just an amazing thing," Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said immediately after the vote. "We cannot even begin to debate on this bill. ... We are prevented essentially from debating one of the most important bills that Congress could pass."
In debate leading up to the vote, senators on both sides of the aisle said no one was against financial regulation reform -- they just had differing views on how the Senate bill would help achieve it.
"The way to fix the bill is to begin to debate the bill," Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said in debate. "Can we begin discussing the bill? Because until we move on to the bill, all this talk is nothing but talk."
Republicans agree better regulation of the U.S. financial system is needed, but Dodd's bill "does not achieve that goal," said Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan.
He said constituents have demanded that they "never be put on the hook" for another bailout of a failed company. Republicans have expressed concern that bailouts could be institutionalized in the bill while Democrats said that wasn't the case.
Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., said taxpayers "are fed up with heavy-handed, big government."
Republicans also took issue with the omission of governmental entities and mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
"Failure to deal with this is a glaring omission," said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and minority whip.
Dodd and other Democrats said regulating the Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. needed to be addressed in separate legislation.
Outside the chamber, Dodd and Sen. Sen. Richard C. Shelby, R-Ala., the ranking Republican on the banking committee, were working on a bipartisan measure. Roberts called the next 48 hours "absolutely critical" in achieving a bipartisan bill.
U.S. may challenge Ariz. immigration law
WASHINGTON, April 27 (UPI) -- U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Tuesday said he would not rule out a legal challenge to Arizona's new immigration law.
Speaking with reporters in Washington, Holder said no decision had been made but the Department of Justice was coordinating with the Department of Homeland Security on how Washington should respond to passage of legislation that would punish people who are detained in Arizona and are unable to prove they are in the United States legally.
"We are considering all possibilities, including the possibility of a court challenge," he said.
Holder said the Arizona law was "unfortunate."
"I think that it is, I fear, subject to potential abuse," he said. "And I'm very concerned about the wedge that it could draw between communities that law enforcement is supposed to serve and those of us in law enforcement."
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who signed the measure into law Friday, pushed back Tuesday against her critics, including President Barack Obama, rights activists, religious leaders, a former governor and the Mexican president, ABC reported Tuesday on "Good Morning America."
Obama called the new law "misguided" and ordered the Justice Department to investigate whether it would violate civil rights.
"I've spoken to the president personally in regard to that, (it) has been met with complete and total disrespect to the people of Arizona. I mean, we don't even get an answer back," Brewer said.
Among other things, the Arizona law makes it a crime to be in the state illegally and would require law enforcement officers to check the legal status of people they suspect are undocumented. Brewer said the legislation was in response to the federal government's inaction on illegal immigrants.
Mexico's foreign relations department Tuesday issued an advisory that Mexicans in Arizona "act with prudence and respect the framework of local laws," ABC said.
"It should be assumed that any Mexican citizen could be bothered and questioned for no other reason at any moment," the travel alert said.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who vetoed similar legislation when she was Arizona's governor, called the effort "a misguided law."
"It's not a good law enforcement law," Napolitano told ABC. "But beyond that, what it illustrates is that other states now will feel compelled to do things and you will have this patchwork of laws where we need a federal immigration system that meets our security needs, that recognizes where we need to go in this 21st century and gives us a better framework on which to stand."
In Mexico, political activists called on Mexicans not to visit Arizona to protest the legislation and "in solidarity with our compatriots who live there and can be detained unjustly," Mexican publication El Universal reported.
Coast Guard may set oil slick on fire
HOUSTON, April 27 (UPI) -- An oil slick in the Gulf Mexico has come with 20 miles of the coastline and Coast Guard officials said Tuesday they are considering setting the slick on fire.
The slick resulted from last week's oil rig explosion near Louisiana, which left 11 workers missing and presumably dead. Oil was leaking from a Deepwater Horizon well in the gulf, 50 miles off the Louisiana coast, at a rate of 42,000 gallons a day, officials said.
The slick threatens environmentally sensitive areas in the Mississippi River Delta, Coast Guard officials said.
"If we don't secure the well, this could be one of the most serious oil spills in U.S. history," Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said at a news conference Tuesday.
The April 20 spill, though smaller than a huge 1979 spill near Mexico, is already worse than the 1979 Ixtoc 1 leak, if for no other reason than that 11 oil workers' lives were lost, the Houston Chronicle said Tuesday.
However, the 1979 spill released far moil oil into the environment than last week's disaster. The Ixtoc well poured about 140 million gallons of oil into the gulf for 295 days before it was capped. At its current rate, it would take nine years for the Deepwater Horizon spill to match the 1979 spill, the Chronicle reported.
The current oil spill is closer to the U.S. Gulf coast shores, and there is concern it could damage the coastline more than the 1979 spill did, scientists said.
But marine biologists say the clean-up system is better now than it was more than 30 years ago.
"We're better prepared now. If they're able to clean it up out there in the open water, that's the best thing they can do," said Wes Tunnell, a marine biologist with the Corpus Christi Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico studies.
The Deepwater Horizon oil slick is about 80 miles long and 48 miles wide, the Chronicle said. For the most part, the current slick is a thin layer on the water's surface, CNN reported.
A controlled burn, using fireproof booms and conducted only in daylight, could began Wednesday, CNN said.
Obama seeks to reconnect with voters
WASHINGTON, April 27 (UPI) -- President Barack Obama Tuesday returned to Iowa, the state that breathed life into his presidential run, to reconnect with voters, strategists said.
Obama toured the Siemens Wind Turbine Blade manufacturing plant in Fort Madison, Iowa, and then stopped at a diner for a cup of coffee and a piece of pie before speaking to an audience in Ottumwa, Iowa.
At the Siemens plant, the president said the U.S. economy is growing, the markets are climbing and businesses are "beginning to create jobs again."
"But in too many places, the recovery isn't reaching everyone just yet," he said.
Obama said the nation needs to improve education, healthcare and the financial system and to develop "a new, clean energy economy that generates good jobs right here in America."
In Ottumwa, Obama criticized Senate Republicans for blocking debate on financial reform legislation.
"Today, for the second time in 24 hours, Senate Republicans unanimously blocked efforts to even begin debating reform," he said. "I'm not even asking them to vote for the bill.
"It's one thing to oppose reform, but opposing even talking about reform in front of the American people and having a legitimate debate, that's not right."
Obama's visit to America's heartland Tuesday and Wednesday, as part of his White House-to-Main Street tour to discuss the economy and jobs, is also intended to reach out to voters who have become critical of his presidency, The New York Times reported Monday.
The political value of the president's favorability rating -- which has hovered around 50 percent for the past several months -- extends past Obama to Democratic candidates as they work to be elected in November.
"Ultimately, he's our greatest asset," said Tom Miller, the Iowa Democratic attorney general who is seeking re-election in November. "I think he could be a big plus by October, but that obviously remains to be seen."
Before leaving for Iowa, Obama met with members of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, delivering remarks on the importance of reaching bipartisan consensus on recommendations to improve the country's long-term fiscal health before its inaugural meeting, the White House said.
Strategists said Obama isn't a millstone for the ticket. He is working to shore up support to ensure party strength on Capitol Hill in the face of anti-government, anti-incumbent sentiment, the Times reported.
White House officials said they recognize Main Street Americans haven't felt the full effect of the economic recovery effort and have doubts about the sweeping healthcare bill Obama signed.
"They're not yet feeling like (there is) a recovery," senior presidential adviser David Axelrod said. "I don't think it's surprising that people are not in all that positive of a mood, but I do think that things will get better."
