The Mexican government warned its citizens Tuesday to use extreme caution if visiting Arizona because of a tough new law that requires all immigrants and visitors to carry U.S.-issued documents or risk arrest.

President Barack Obama also criticized the law, saying it could lead to harassment of Hispanics, and he called for bipartisan support to fix America’s broken immigration system. Two senior officials in his government said the Arizona law may face a legal challenge by federal authorities.

“Now suddenly if you don’t have your papers, and you took your kid out to get ice cream, you’re going to get harassed — that’s something that could potentially happen,” the U.S. president said of the measure. “That’s not the right way to go.”

Arizona’s law — slated to take effect in late July or early August — makes it a state crime to be in the U.S. illegally and allows police to question anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant. Lawmakers said the legislation, which has sparked huge protests and litigation, was needed because the Obama administration is failing to enforce existing federal laws.

Mexico’s Foreign Ministry issued a travel alert for Arizona after the law was signed, warning that its passage shows “an adverse political atmosphere for migrant communities and for all Mexican visitors.”

The alert said that once the law takes effect, foreigners can be questioned at any moment and detained if they fail to carry immigration documents. And it warns that the law will also make it illegal to hire or be hired from a vehicle stopped on the street.

A Mexican government-affiliated agency that supports Mexicans living and working in the United States called for boycotts of Tempe, Ariz.-based US Airways, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Phoenix Suns until those organizations rebuke the law.

“We are making a strong call to the Arizona government to retract this regressive and racist law that’s impacting not only residents of Arizona, but people in all 50 states and in Mexico as well,” said Raul Murillo, who works with the Institute for Mexicans Abroad, an autonomous agency of Mexico’s Foreign Ministry.

US Airways spokesman Jim Olson said “we have had absolutely no customers who have canceled flights” as a result of the controversy. Calls to the Diamondbacks and the Suns were not immediately returned.

In Washington, Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano criticized the law, with Holder saying the federal government may challenge it.

A number of options are under consideration, including “the possibility of a court challenge,” Holder said.

A citizen effort to repeal the law also is expected. Jon Garrido, who produces a Hispanic website and ran unsuccessfully last year for the Phoenix City Council, said he plans to begin gathering signatures next week to get a repeal referendum on the November ballot. If successful, the effort would block the law from taking effect until the vote.

Obama said Tuesday that “poorly conceived” measures such as Arizona’s can be halted if the federal government fixes the U.S. immigration system for good.

Obama pledged to bring his own party along, pleading with Republicans to join in as the only realistic hope to solve a politically volatile problem and get an immigration deal done.

“I will bring the majority of Democrats to the table in getting this done,” Obama said in response to a question at a town hall in south-central Iowa. “But I’ve got to have some help from the other side.”

U.S. politicians also weighed in on the growing controversy, with election season looming.

In California, Meg Whitman, the Republican front-runner in the California gubernatorial primary, said Arizona is taking the wrong approach.

“I think there’s just better ways to solve this problem,” Whitman said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

California state Sen. President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said the law attempts to legalize racial profiling and called on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to review the state’s contracts with Arizona and cancel them if legally possible.

Schwarzenegger has not yet replied, but told reporters that immigration matters are the responsibility of the federal government.

Arizona Sen. John McCain, seeking re-election, told CBS’s “The Early Show” that his state needed such a law because the Obama administration has failed to secure the borders, resulting in drugs pouring into the southwestern United States from Mexico.

Each day, more than 65,000 Mexican residents are in Arizona to work, visit friends and relatives and shop, according to a University of Arizona study sponsored by the Arizona Office of Tourism. While there, the Mexican visitors spend more than $7.35 million daily in Arizona’s stores, restaurants, hotels and other businesses, the researchers found.

Bimbo Bakeries, one of many Mexican companies operating in Arizona, said Tuesday it doesn’t expect Arizona’s new immigration law to affect its employees.

“We carefully screen all associates to ensure they are authorized to work in the United States,” Bimbo spokesman David Margulies said.

At the Mexico City airport Tuesday, Mexicans heading for the U.S. said they were very troubled by the new law.

“It’s humiliating,” said Modesto Perez, who lives in Illinois. “It’s really ugly.”

via businessweek.com

By JEFF ZELENY
& ADAM NAGOURNEY

ASHLAND, Wis. | Rep. David Obey has won 21 straight races, easily prevailing through wars and economic crises that have spanned presidencies from Nixon to Obama. Yet the discontent with Washington surging through politics is now threatening not only his seat but Democratic control of Congress.

Obey is one of nearly a dozen well-established House Democrats who are bracing for something they rarely face: serious competition. Their predicament is the latest sign of distress for their party and underlines why Republicans are confident of big gains in November, and perhaps even winning back the House.

The fight for the midterm elections is not confined to traditional battlegrounds, where Republicans and Democrats often swap seats every few cycles. In the Senate, Democrats are struggling to hold on to, among others, seats once held by President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. Democrats are preparing to lose as many as 30 House seats – including a wave of first-term members – and Republicans have expanded their sights to places where political challenges seldom develop.

“It’s not a lifetime appointment,” said Sean Duffy, a Republican district attorney here in the north woods of Wisconsin, where he has established himself as one of the most aggressive challengers to Obey since the Democrat went to Washington in 1969. “There are changes in this country going on and people aren’t happy.”

Obey, who leads the powerful Appropriations Committee, is one of three House Democratic chairmen who have drawn serious opposition. Reps. John Spratt of South Carolina, who oversees the Budget Committee, and Ike Skelton of Missouri, who runs the Armed Services Committee, have been warned by party leaders to step up the intensity of their campaigns to help preserve the Democratic majority.

These established House Democrats find themselves in the same endangered straits as some of their newer colleagues, particularly those who were swept into office in 2008 by Obama as he scored victories in traditionally Republican states like Indiana and Virginia.

Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said he would consider anything short of taking back the House a failure. Republicans say they have not recruited strong candidates in all districts, but both parties agree that Republicans are within reach of capturing the 40 additional seats needed to win control. Republicans also are likely to eat into the Democratic majority in the Senate, though their prospects of taking control remain slim.

via theledger.com

“Respect for the rule of law means respect for every law,” said Brewer, a Republican. “People across America are watching Arizona.

“We in Arizona have been more than patient waiting for Washington to act,” Brewer added. “But decades of inaction and misguided policy have created a dangerous and unacceptable situation.”

Brewer’s decision came just hours after President Obama called the proposal “misguided.” At a naturalization ceremony for new U.S. citizens today, Obama pressed Congress to revamp federal immigration policy or face the possibility of “irresponsibility by others.”

The law, which will take effect in 90 days, will make it a state crime to be in the country illegally. The measure would require migrants to produce papers verifying their status when asked to do so by a police officer, according to a story in The Arizona Republic.

Debate over the Arizona policy comes as immigration is once again moving to the fore in Washington. Earlier this week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Congress may take up immigration after it finishes a pending financial regulation bill. “If the Senate is ready with an immigration bill, we don’t want anybody holding it up for any reason,” she said. 

Back in Arizona, Brewer is facing a tough election year, including a contested primary and what the non-partisan Cook Political Report has rated a “toss-up” general election. State Treasurer Dean Martin, who is running against Brewer in the GOP primary, called on her to sign the bill.

State Rep. Russell Pearce, the Republican state lawmaker who sponsored the legislation, said critics of the bill are “against law enforcement, our citizens and the rule of law,” according to the Associated Press. 

But civil rights and Hispanic groups have condemned the measure, arguing it could lead to profiling. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said today he will travel to Phoenix to take part in protests planned this weekend.

“Now the national spotlight is focused squarely on Arizona,” Gutierrez said in a statement. “People from all over the country are making their way to Phoenix to stand up with and stand up for immigrants and Latinos in the state.”

Brewer’s office has posted the governor’s full statement here. 

via usatoday.com

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul law is getting a mixed verdict in the first comprehensive look by neutral experts: More Americans will be covered, but costs are also going up.

Economic experts at the Health and Human Services Department concluded in a report issued Thursday that the health care remake will achieve Obama’s aim of expanding health insurance — adding 34 million to the coverage rolls.

But the analysis also found that the law falls short of the president’s twin goal of controlling runaway costs, raising projected spending by about 1 percent over 10 years. That increase could get bigger, since Medicare cuts in the law may be unrealistic and unsustainable, the report warned.

It’s a worrisome assessment for Democrats.

In particular, concerns about Medicare could become a major political liability in the midterm elections. The report projected that Medicare cuts could drive about 15 percent of hospitals and other institutional providers into the red, “possibly jeopardizing access” to care for seniors.

The report from Medicare’s Office of the Actuary carried a disclaimer saying it does not represent the official position of the Obama administration. White House officials have repeatedly complained that such analyses have been too pessimistic and lowball the law’s potential to achieve savings.

The report acknowledged that some of the cost-control measures in the bill — Medicare cuts, a tax on high-cost insurance and a commission to seek ongoing Medicare savings — could help reduce the rate of cost increases beyond 2020. But it held out little hope for progress in the first decade.

“During 2010-2019, however, these effects would be outweighed by the increased costs associated with the expansions of health insurance coverage,” wrote Richard S. Foster, Medicare’s chief actuary. “Also, the longer-term viability of the Medicare … reductions is doubtful.” Foster’s office is responsible for long-range costs estimates.

Republicans said the findings validate their concerns about Obama’s 10-year, nearly $1 trillion plan to remake the nation’s health care system.

“A trillion dollars gets spent, and it’s no surprise — health care costs are going to go up,” said Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., a leading Republican on health care issues. Camp added that he’s concerned the Medicare cuts will undermine care for seniors.

In a statement, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius sought to highlight some positive findings for seniors. For example, the report concluded that Medicare monthly premiums would be lower than otherwise expected, due to the spending reductions.

“The Affordable Care Act will improve the health care system for all Americans, and we will continue our work to quickly and carefully implement the new law,” the statement said.

Passed by a divided Congress after a year of bitter partisan debate, the law would create new health insurance markets for individuals and small businesses. Starting in 2014, most Americans would be required to carry health insurance except in cases of financial hardship. Tax credits would help many middle-class households pay their premiums, while Medicaid would pick up more low-income people. Insurers would be required to accept all applicants, regardless of their health.

The U.S. spends $2.5 trillion a year on health care, far more per person than any other developed nation, and for results that aren’t clearly better when compared to more frugal countries. At the outset of the health care debate last year, Obama held out the hope that by bending the cost curve down, the U.S. could cover all its citizens for about what the nation would spend absent any changes.

The report found that the president’s law missed the mark, although not by much. The overhaul will increase national health care spending by $311 billion from 2010-2019, or nine-tenths of 1 percent. To put that in perspective, total health care spending during the decade is estimated to surpass $35 trillion.

Administration officials argue the increase is a bargain price for guaranteeing coverage to 95 percent of Americans. They also point out that the law will decrease the federal deficit by $143 billion over the 10-year period.

The report’s most sober assessments concerned Medicare.

In addition to flagging provider cuts as potentially unsustainable, the report projected that reductions in payments to private Medicare Advantage plans would trigger an exodus from the popular alternative. Enrollment would plummet by about 50 percent. Seniors leaving the private plans would still have health insurance under traditional Medicare, but many might face higher out-of-pocket costs.

In another flashing yellow light, the report warned that a new voluntary long-term care insurance program created under the law faces “a very serious risk” of insolvency.

via news.yahoo.com

Mr. Stupak told the Associated Press in Michigan he thinks he would have won re-election, but wants to start a new career instead, and will announce his plans at a press conference.

He became a chief Republican target after he ended up voting for the health care bill even though it still contains the abortion coverage language he objected to for months, and several Republicans are now seeking the nomination to run against him.

Last year the congressman won a fight with House Democratic leaders over strict language that would have completely separated health care plans that offer abortion coverage from the government-run exchanges that the health care law creates. His amendment to impose a strict divide passed the House.

But Senate Democrats rejected that split, opting for different language, and for months Mr. Stupak said he and up to a dozen Democrats would vote against a final health care bill rather than accept the Senate’s version. Just before the final vote, though, the congressman announced he would support the measure, pointing to an executive order Mr. Obama promised to sign that would reassert current law.

Republicans said voting for the bill made Mr. Stupak, who is in his ninth term in Congress, vulnerable to a challenge.

Via washingtontimes.com

Rather than strike out on its own, Arizona will join a lawsuit filed by 15 other states against the federal government over the landmark health care bill passed by Congress.

Federal authorities have arrested a Philadelphia man and charged him with threatening to kill House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and his family.

Norman Leboon will be charged with two federal counts: threatening to kill a member of Congress and interfering with his federal duties, and posting video online containing such threats. He is scheduled to appear in federal district court in Philadelphia on Monday afternoon.

The arrest is the most serious in a string of threats of violence against lawmakers in wake of the divisive health care vote. At least 10 Democrats along with a handful of Republicans, including Cantor, reported threats of violence during the past week.

“At this time, the congressman will have no further comment on this threat or the investigation, and asks that inquiries be directed to the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” Cantor spokesman Brad Dayspring said. “The congressman is deeply grateful for, and would like to dearly thank all local and federal law enforcement involved, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Attorney’s Office[s] in Virginia and Philadelphia, U.S. Capitol Police and the Henrico Police Department in Virginia.”

In a video posted on YouTube, Leboon said Cantor was a “liar, you’re a Lucifer, you’re a pig, a greedy [expletive] pig.” He also seemed to refer to a bullet found in Cantor’s office last week and said it will be placed in his head. Richmond Police had originally discounted the bullet as a stray. It is unclear whether the FBI will expand the investigation into the Richmond bullet.

Leboon faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of both charges.

According to an FBI affidavit, the investigation moved swiftly. On March 26, the FBI’s San Francisco office got a copy of a YouTube video in which Leboon allegedly made threats to kill Cantor and his “cupcake evil wife.”

Leboon’s video also makes reference to Cantor’s Judaism – Cantor last week said he has received anti-Semitic threats in the past.

“Remember Eric at our judgment time, the final Yom Kippur has been given,” according to a transcript of the video in the affidavit. “…You’re an abomination, you receive my bullets in your office, remember they will be placed in your heads. You and your children are Lucifer’s abomination.”

Google, the owner of YouTube, provided the FBI with the IP address of the person who submitted the video and found it to be in Philadelphia.

Police had a warrant to arrest Leboon on separate charges of terroristic threats with intent to terrorize another, simple assault and reckless

via Politico.

And now that the piñata is broken, we see it includes financial doom for the state of Arizona!

Arizona must drop a plan to cut its Medicaid program’s generous eligibility and instead pay an additional $3.8 billion over the next three years under the federal health care overhaul, state officials reported Thursday.

Arizona also stands to pay billions of dollars more in subsequent years than less generous other states would have to pay, even after increased federal funding starts in 2014, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System said in a report.

Gov. Jan Brewer and the Republican-led Legislature included a rollback of AHCCCS eligibility to help balance the $8.5 billion budget for the next fiscal year. The rollback would have dropped 310,000 people, roughly a quarter of the 1.3 million people now served.

But AHCCCS officials concluded Thursday that the health care overhaul’s so-called “maintenance of effort” requirements require Arizona to keep its Medicaid program at current levels in order to keep getting federal dollars. They said the state will incur $3.8 billion of added costs for its Medicaid population before increased federal funding starts in 2014.

Way to go, Arizona Reps. Gabrielle Giffords, Ann Kirkpatrick and Harry Mitchell!

via nationalreview.com

Here’s a… photo above of the Republican candidate for president who’s currently tied with President Obama for the 2012 White House race.

No one.

Or anyone.

A new CNN / Opinion Research Poll out this afternoon of 953 registered voters nationally finds Obama tied at 47% with any Republican candidate. Gee, if only Wendell Willkie was still around.

The same poll also finds a clear majority of Americans now believe that Obama is a one-term president.

Other than that things are looking great for the 14-month-old Democrat administration, which is still celebrating Sunday’s passage of a massive healtcare bill that most Americans don’t seem to like.

And confronts crucial midterm elections come November when the White House party historically loses an average of 16 House seats.

Today, at another healthcare campaign town hall meeting in Iowa two days after he already signed the bill into law, Obama threw down the gauntlet to the GOP to run a campaign based on repealing the new law.

“Go for it!” he said.

And Republicans appear to be positioning to do just that.

Now, even though it doesn’t seem to matter right now, which Republican should be the 2012 candidate? 

Well, the same early poll shows Republicans and GOP-leaning independents returning to the party’s tendency to prefer state chief executives when selecting candidates for the nation’s chief executive.

The top three are all former governors: Mitt Romney (22%), Sarah Palin (18%) and close behind her Mike Huckabee (17%).

The next closest are Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul and “Someone Else,” all at 8%.

Nevermind the Democrat’s opponent, do you think if Obama runs, he wins? 44% Yes. 54% Nope.

As a sign of how effective Obama has been in reducing the harsh political tone of the nation’s capitol, only 2% have no opinion on that question.

Among Obama’s base of traditional Democrats, surprisingly one-in-five now thinks a different candidate might be a good idea in 2012. A large majority still want him renominated (76%). And, again, only 4% have no opinion. Watch that 20% number; also how long Hillary Clinton stays over at the State Department.

Obviously, though, the current White House doesn’t watch political polls. Otherwise, they’d be focusing on jobs and the economy instead of healthcare.

And Obama aide Valerie Jarrett scoffingly assured Fox News’ Major Garrett last month that her Democratic teammates hadn’t even begun to think of, let alone plan for, the next election.

These very early poll numbers indicate that might actually be a pretty good Obama plan.

via latimes.com