1. Border surge overwhelming, U.S. officials say
WASHINGTON (AP) — Tens of thousands of children streaming from Central American nations to the U.S. border have overwhelmed the government’s ability to respond, senior Obama administration officials testified Wednesday as they urged senators to agree to the president’s emergency spending request for the crisis.
But as President Barack Obama traveled to Texas, Republican opposition hardened to his $3.7 billion request, leaving any solution unclear. At the same time, the political pressures on the president appeared to grow from all sides, as Republicans denounced him on the Senate floor, and even some Democrats began to join Republican demands for him to visit the U.S.-Mexican border — calls the White House continued to reject.
Obama was meeting with local leaders late Wednesday on the immigration situation — but in Dallas, not at the border. He also was meeting with Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has prodded him to visit the border.
In Washington, Sen. John McCain, a Republican who has supported Obama’s stalled quest to remake the nation’s immigration laws, said he could not support the president’s spending request.
“I cannot vote for a provision which will then just perpetuate an unacceptable humanitarian crisis that’s taking place on our southern border,” McCain said on the Senate floor, where he was joined by fellow Arizonan Jeff Flake and Texas Republicans John Cornyn and Ted Cruz.
They took take turns blaming Obama’s policies for causing the border situation, contending that his efforts to relax some deportations have contributed to rumors circulating in Central America that once here, migrant kids will be allowed to stay.
“Amnesty is unfolding before our very eyes,” Cruz said.
2. Rift grows over religious exemption in anti-bias order
In the intensifying debate over religious liberty, President Barack Obama faces pressure from opposite flanks as he prepares to issue an executive order barring federal contractors from discriminating against gay and transgender people in hiring.
Many religious leaders and conservative groups want him to exempt religious organizations from the order. Liberal clergy and groups advocating on behalf of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people adamantly oppose such an exemption — and have pulled their support for a non-discrimination bill they long supported to drive the point home.
The upshot is a difficult balancing act for the White House, which said the executive order is still being drafted — nearly a month after Obama announced he would sign it. White House spokesman Josh Earnest declined to say whether a religious exemption would be included or was even being considered.
Within the past two weeks, scores of religious leaders of contrasting views have signed letters to Obama, arguing for and against an exemption.
One letter, signed by 14 faith leaders urging a “robust” exemption, was organized by Michael Wear, a Washington-based consultant who previously worked on Obama’s re-election campaign and in the White House office of faith-based initiatives.
3. New York police see risks with drones’ popularity
NEW YORK (AP) — One private drone crash-landed in midtown Manhattan. Another caused alarm by hovering over Times Square amid tight security during Super Bowl week. Most recently, authorities said, another had a close brush with a police helicopter near the George Washington Bridge.
Even though it’s illegal to fly the devices just about anywhere in New York City without permission, the incidents and breathtaking videos of Manhattan’s steel-and-glass canyons and sweeping skyline photos suggest that the restrictions are being widely flouted.
Police are concerned that the increasing popularity of drones in such a tightly packed metropolis could carry significant risks, even becoming a potential tool for terrorists to conduct surveillance or carry out attacks.
“So far, we haven’t seen anything sinister with this,” said John Miller, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner of counterterrorism. But, he added, “People with enough money and time on their hands are going to buy them and see what they can do with them.”
Drone buffs say the futuristic doomsday scenarios are far-fetched.
“A motor vehicle or a bicycle could just as easily be used to do something nefarious,” said Steve Cohen, a professional photographer who owns a small fleet of drones and organizes meetings for enthusiasts.
4. Israel steps up offensive as diplomacy kicks off
JERUSALEM (AP) — With rockets raining deep inside Israel, the military pummeled Palestinian targets Wednesday across the Gaza Strip and threatened a broad ground offensive, while the first diplomatic efforts to end two days of heavy fighting got underway.
Egypt, which has mediated before between Israel and the Hamas militant group, said it spoke to all sides about ending the violence. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was in touch with Israel to try to lower tensions. And the United Nations chief warned of a “deteriorating situation ... which could quickly get beyond anyone’s control.”
As the Palestinian death toll rose above 60, neither side showed any sign of halting their heaviest fighting since an eight-day battle in late 2012.
Israel said it hit more than 300 targets and Hamas positions throughout Gaza, including rocket-launchers, weapons-storage sites and tunnels that it said the group uses to carry out attacks. The military said 74 rockets landed in Israel, including one that reached the northern city of Hadera, the deepest rocket strike ever from Gaza.
“Hamas will pay a heavy price for firing toward Israeli citizens,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “The operation will expand and continue until the fire toward our towns stops and quiet returns.”
5. Bennett accepts $5,000 fine in ethics settlement
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Former Indiana Schools Superintendent Tony Bennett has agreed to pay $5,000 as part of a settlement with Indiana’s ethics watchdog in which he admits to using state resources for campaign work but is cleared of formal ethics violations in the grade-change scandal that cost him his job as Florida’s schools chief last year.
A copy of the settlement was obtained by the Associated Press Wednesday evening. POLITICO first reported on the Bennett settlement late Wednesday afternoon.
Investigators from Indiana’s inspector general’s office found that Bennett had his state staff work with campaign staff to coordinate his official and political schedules using state Microsoft software and computers. They also determined that Republican fundraising lists were downloaded to state computers in January 2013 by state staff at his request, after Bennett had lost his 2012 re-election bid.
It remains unclear, though, if all of the campaign lists were downloaded to state computers after the election, as Bennett said. A copy of “The 5000” list obtained by The Associated Press last year was created by Bennett’s then-Communications Director Cam Savage in August 2009 and found on a state computer in a folder with other public spreadsheets, including contacts for Statehouse media and top Department of Education staff.
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