Loretta Lynch New AG | Senate Passes Amended Victims of Trafficking Act | President Hot To Close GITMO.

Loretta Lynch New Attorney General

Today in Washington, D.C. - April 23, 2015
The House reconvened today at 9 AM EDT.  The are expected to address only one bill before recessing this afternoon until  8 PM on Monday, April 27, 2015. That bill is H.R. 1731 — "To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to enhance multi-directional sharing of information related to cybersecurity risks and strengthen privacy and civil liberties protections, and for other purposes."

Yesterday the House passed:
H.R. 1195 (235-183) — "To amend the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 to establish advisory boards, and for other purposes."
H.R. 1560 (307-116) — "To improve cybersecurity in the United States through enhanced sharing of information about cybersecurity threats, and for other purposes."

Generation Opportunity President Evan Feinberg issued the following statement prior to passage in opposition to H.R. 1560, the Protecting Cyber Networks Act, and H.R. 1731, the National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act of 2015:

“If passed, H.R. 1560 and H.R. 1731 would severely compromise the privacy of young Americans. In the name of cybersecurity, these flawed pieces of legislation contain loopholes which would increase the government’s ability to engage in domestic mass surveillance – something our generation adamantly opposes.

“Just as bad: both bills hinder our generation’s ability to hold private companies accountable for protecting our digital information from government surveillance. Digitally-driven young Americans deeply value their Internet freedom. We’re watching both of these bills closely, and hope our elected officials vote in favor of protecting our generation’s privacy this week.”
The Senate reconvened today at 9:30 AM EDT and resumed consideration of the nomination of Loretta Lynch to be Attorney General. Following two hours of debate, the Senate voted 66-34 to invoke cloture on the Lynch nomination. After two more hours of debate time, the Senate voted 56-43 to confirm Lynch to be Attorney General. The following Republicans votes with Democrats to confirm Lynch: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Orrin Hatch (UT), Lindsey Graham (SC), Jeff Flake (AZ), Thad Cochran (MS), Susan Collins (ME), Mark Kirk (IL), Kelly Ayotte (NH), Ron Johnson (WI) and Rob Portman (OH). Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) spoke against Lynch's confirmation and listed the reasons he believed she should not be confirmed.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that this afternoon the Senate will begin consideration of H.R. 1191, the vehicle for the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015. The Corker-Cardin bill that unanimously passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will be offered as a substitute amendment.

Yesterday, after weeks of delay due to filibusters from Democrats, the senate voted 99-0 to pass S. 178, the bipartisan Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act.

Prior to passage, the Senate voted 43-55 to reject an amendment from Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT) which would have stripped the Hyde amendment language from the bill and then voted 98-0 to adopt the amendment from Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX), Patty Murray (D-WA) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) which changed funding details but still prevents funds collected by this legislation from being spent on abortions.

The Senate rejected two amendments to reauthorize certain runaway and homeless youth programs. One, offered, by Sen. Cornyn would have offset the cost of the amendment by repealing another health fund, was rejected by a vote of 45-53. The other, offered by Sen. Leahy, which would have expanded non-discrimination provisions failed to get the 60 votes needed by a 56-43 vote. Senators then agreed to interesting amendments to the bill

• by Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - To direct the Attorney General to increase the amount provided under certain formula grants to States that have in place laws that terminate the parental rights of men who father children through rape.
• Richard Burr (R-NC) - To require the Secretary of Defense to inform the Attorney General of persons required to register as sex offenders.
• Mark Kirk (R-IL) - To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide a penalty for knowingly selling advertising that offers certain commercial sex acts.

Eleven more amendments were adopted by voice votes.

Again, the Obama administration is pushing to close the facility for terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay, and is even considering an end run around Congress to import some of these detainees into the United States.

According to The Washington Post, “Facing a potential showdown with Congress, the Pentagon is racing to move dozens of detainees out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in coming months before lawmakers can block future transfers and derail President Obama’s plan to shutter the U.S. military prison.

“As a first step, officials plan to send up to 10 prisoners overseas, possibly in June. In all, the Pentagon hopes that 57 inmates who are approved for transfer will be resettled by the end of 2015. That would require ‘large muscle movements’ by at least two countries, which officials hope will each agree to take in 10 to 20 Yemeni detainees who, because of security conditions in their war-torn homeland, cannot be repatriated. ‘I am aware of the clock ticking,’ a defense official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal planning. ‘It’s going to take high-level leadership, and it’s going to take some big asks to some countries.’

“The issue of what to do with those remaining detainees on trial in military commissions or who are deemed too dangerous to release also looms over a White House that is facing the end of Obama’s second term in 2017.”

The Post adds, “Officials said that Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, who has not approved any transfers since he took office in February, will sign off in coming weeks on the repatriation of inmates to Morocco and Mauritania, and the transfer of six Yemeni prisoners to a third country. . . . In addition, another prisoner who may be resettled as early as this summer is Shaker Aamer, an alleged al-Qaeda plotter and former U.K. resident . . . . Debates about the safety of releasing detainees have held up transfers for years. One such detainee is Ahmed Ould Abdel al-Aziz, a Mauritanian who is expected to be repatriated as early as June. He was first scheduled for release in late 2009. . . . Another detainee expected to be repatriated in June is Younis Abdurrahman Chekkouri, a Moroccan whom U.S. officials once described as a close associate of Osama bin Laden and a co-founder of the Moroccan Islamic Fighting Group, according to U.S. military files disclosed by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks. . . . A decision to send Aamer, one of the highest-profile prisoners who could be moved out of Guantanamo Bay, to Britain would be an important signal that the White House is willing to go ahead with transfers despite some officials’ fears about detainees’ future actions. Some U.S. officials have worried about what Aamer, who was described in military files as an experienced al-Qaeda operative, might do once he is released.”

In a troubling passage, The Washington Post notes that the White House is contemplating another of its increasingly frequent and illegal end-runs around Congress. “In the event that Congress does pass legislation that would freeze Guantanamo Bay’s population, currently at 122, White House officials are exploring options for the unilateral closure of the prison and moving detainees into the United States, an action that Congress has opposed from the president’s first months in office.”

Not apparently content with executive actions of dubious legality that have bypassed Congress on everything from immigration to Obamacare deadlines and EPA regulations (not to mention outright unconstitutional recess appointments), the Obama White House is now contemplating defying Congress in another attempt to close Guantanamo Bay.

Indeed, according to the story, “The biggest challenge to Obama’s plan lies in Congress, where skeptical lawmakers are moving to tighten restrictions on sending prisoners overseas. In the Senate, Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) is sponsoring a bill that would extend the ban on bringing detainees to the United States and would effectively bar future transfers to third countries.”

The Post article then reiterates, “In the event that Congress does pass legislation that would freeze Guantanamo Bay’s population at 122, White House officials are exploring options for the unilateral closure of the prison.”

Last month, as he has done since 2009, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell again chastised the Obama administration for “[t]he executive orders that attempted to close Guantanamo — without a credible plan for what to do with its detainees — and to essentially end our ability to capture, detain, and interrogate terrorists — regardless of the threats that remained for our country . . . .”

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