Richard Blumenthal Archives

McConnell reiterates support after risking border deal over Trump opposition

January 25, 2024
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Thursday, Jan. 25 he still supports a border security deal that’s linked to aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. He put months of negotiations in question when, on the previous night, he said he didn’t want to do anything to undermine the presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who opposes the deal.

The possibility that Donald Trump could derail a bipartisan negotiation made multiple Republicans speak out and encourage negotiators to keep moving forward. The Senate has been working nonstop since October 2023 to come up with a bipartisan agreement.

“Shocking that politics plays a role in this building, absolutely shocking. I can’t imagine that’s the case,” Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said sarcastically when asked for his reaction to the development.

According to Punchbowl News, McConnell told Republicans during a closed-door meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 24 that, “politics on this have changed” and that the time to get the border deal done may have passed. That did not sit well with many Republicans SAN spoke with Thursday.

“I think James Lankford has been working very hard to secure the southern border, to give the next president, whoever it is, more authority so that we can secure the southern border,” Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., told reporters. “So anything that interrupts that negotiation, I think would be tragic.”

“The idea that someone running for president would say, ‘Please hurt the country so I can blame my opponent and help my politics’ is a shocking development,” Romney said.

The lead Democratic negotiator, Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, said they have had the outlines of a deal done for several days and that more than 90% is written.

“I know there is a group of Republicans that just wants to keep this issue open, that wants to keep chaos at the border in order to exploit that politically,” Murphy told reporters. “But I still believe that there are enough Republicans to join with Democrats to do something together.”

Murphy said people could know in a matter of 24 to 48 hours whether Trump’s opposition to the deal is enough to derail it.

As lawmakers negotiate how to get aid to Israel and other allies, 49 Senators — including 46 Democrats and three independents who caucus with the Democrats — introduced an amendment to the foreign aid package to reiterate U.S. policy that there needs to be a two-state solution between Israel and Gaza.

“The pathway to peace will be a Palestinian state and the State of Israel living side by side, each recognizing the other’s security and rights to exist with a stronger economic prosperity for all,” Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ben Cardin, D-Md., said.

Supporters of the amendment include lawmakers who have been unapologetically pro-Israel since the war began, including Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., who are all Jewish.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., also supports the amendment. He, too, is Jewish and is calling for the U.S. to stop sending Israel money that can be used in the war effort.
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‘I’m not a yes vote today’: Is the Senate close to passing Ukraine-border bill?

January 23, 2024
Senate negotiators are close, however, they have not reached a deal on a supplemental foreign aid package. The package would also create border security and immigration reforms in the U.S. The principal lawmakers are working out the details and hope to have something to vote on within a week.

Republicans have been holding up the aid package, demanding changes to immigration parole and asylum. A group of 13 Democrats and counting want an amendment that requires aid recipients to cooperate with U.S. humanitarian efforts.

“Any nation receiving aid in the supplemental package, that would include Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan and probably others, would have to comply with international law and cooperate with U.S. humanitarian efforts,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said. “So it’s an even-handed and reasonable amendment. No surprise we’re picking up more support.”

Once the final deal is released, it’s expected to pass on a bipartisan basis. Senate leadership wants to get it approved as quickly as possible. But it’s not yet clear how many votes it will ultimately receive.

“I think what Senator Lankford has been able to get Democrats to agree to is remarkable,” Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said. “I just don’t know that it gets to the point of a confidence level that would allow a yes vote yet. Certainly, I want to be a yes vote. But I’m not a yes vote today.”

Cramer said getting to a yes will require stricter rules on immigration parole and better policy enforcement.

Republican leadership, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is urging members to support this deal. GOP leaders contend it is the best they’ll get on immigration reform without Democrats insisting a pathway to citizenship and amnesty also be included. They also said it’s better than anything Democrats would agree to in a Trump administration.

To get this kind of border security without granting a pathway to citizenship is really unheard of.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

“To get this kind of border security without granting a pathway to citizenship is really unheard of. So if you think you’re going to get a better deal next time in ‘25 if President Trump’s president, Democrats will be expecting a pathway to citizenship for that,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters Jan. 17.

Straight Arrow News asked Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., what it is about this particular moment in time that makes this type of deal possible?

“I think the urgency of our aiding Ukraine and Israel increases the imperative to reach some kind of compromise on border security,” Blumenthal said. “But border security itself is an interest and it’s a national security goal that should bring us together.”

Getting the package through the House is another story.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., promised to make a motion to vote on removing Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., if he brings forward a package that includes Ukraine aid; although some Democrats said they’d rescue him if that happens.

House Republicans are keeping immigration in the spotlight as they push for even stricter border measures.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas demanding information about his statements reported by Fox News that said the release rate for immigrants apprehended crossing the border is above 85%.

Jordan wants documents and communications from the department related to the releases and monthly updates going forward.

The Judiciary Committee also released data that shows there are at least 617,607 immigrants with criminal convictions or pending criminal charges who are listed as not-detained by ICE.

As of Dec. 10, 2023, there were 1,323,264 immigrants with final orders of removal who remained in the United States.
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Biden granting immigrants parole 105x more than Trump and Obama

January 17, 2024

The number of immigrants, who according to U.S. law have no legal basis to stay in the country but are given permission to remain, has gone up more than 100-fold since President Joe Biden assumed office. Parole, according to the American Immigration Council, temporarily allows immigrants to remain in the United States while they apply for legal status.

Parole protects people from deportation but does not provide a pathway to citizenship. Parolees can receive a work permit but are expected to leave when their parole ends.

Parole differs from asylum, which provides legal status to remain in the United States and a pathway to a green card and citizenship.

During fiscal years 2014 through 2019, former Presidents Obama and Trump granted parole 4,043 to 7,525 times per year. The Biden administration granted parole 795,561 times in fiscal year 2022 and another 802,764 in the first three quarters of fiscal year 2023. Fourth-quarter data from 2023 has not been released.

“They’re abusing the law,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters, referring to members of the Biden administration. “And these negotiations are looking for every way to get around the law. No matter how you write it, none of us trust the Biden administration to implement the law. So there needs to be a hard cap on parole.”

Republicans will not support an aid package for Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific without parole and other immigration reforms.

The Immigration and Nationality Act allows the Secretary of Homeland Security to grant parole for humanitarian reasons or a significant public benefit on a case by case basis. The GOP contends the Biden administration is illegally granting it en masse.

“You cannot fix the problem that we have, the crisis that we have at our southern border, unless you address this critical issue,” Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said. “The abuse by this administration of the parole board, it has to stop.”

President Biden is hosting top Congressional Republicans at the White House as the two sides try to finalize a deal. He and his fellow Democrats have called for stronger border security measures over the last couple of months, but they have not come far enough to get the support of Republicans.

I think there need to be stages of review so that people on parole are at some point given a review, and assessed whether they are dangerous, whether they have a legitimate claim to asylum.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.

“I think there need to be stages of review so that people on parole are at some point given a review, and assessed whether they are dangerous, whether they have a legitimate claim to asylum,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told SAN.

The Biden administration said its use of parole is meant to prevent illegal crossings because migrants from certain countries who cross the border without first applying and making an appointment for screening are automatically ineligible.

“I think that the parole program serves some very, very important functions, particularly as it relates to the Afghan refugees who are our at-risk allies. It also is important for Ukrainians. And I think the program has to be continued,” Blumenthal said.
Advocacy groups preparing litigation in case of Trump reelection

January 16, 2024
Former President Donald Trump won the Iowa caucuses on Monday, Jan. 16, with Ron DeSantis claiming second place and Nikki Haley landing third. Trump’s performance matches trends from nationwide polls showing him as the favored Republican nominee.

The general election is 10 months away on Nov. 5, however, some organizations are already preparing for litigation post-election if Trump retakes the White House.

There is much speculation about what a Trump second term would look like.

Trump had to clarify his remarks about “being a dictator for a day,” posting on his platform Truth Social that his comments were said “in a joking manner.”

Immigration is one of the top issues for Republican voters, according to an AP VoteCast poll of people at the Iowa caucuses. On the campaign trail, Trump has vowed to “use any and all resources needed, including thousands of troops currently stationed overseas” to secure the southern border.

How much Trump will use the military to fulfill his campaign promises is being questioned by his critics.

The Insurrection Act allows presidents to deploy the military in emergency situations. Some Democratic lawmakers are concerned that Trump will misuse the act.

“There are an array of horrors that could result from Donald Trump’s unrestricted use of the Insurrection Act,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. “A malignantly motivated president could use it in a vast variety of dictatorial ways.”

A coalition of public interest groups is looking to prevent Trump’s plan by tying it up early in the courts in case Trump gets reelected and tries to expand his presidential powers.

One such organization is Democracy Forward, which has taken the Trump administration to court over 100 times.

“We are preparing for litigation and preparing to use every tool in the toolbox that our democracy provides to provide the American people an ability to fight back,” said Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward. “We believe this is an existential moment for American democracy and it’s incumbent on everybody to do their part.”

The group of organizations told NBC News they have plans to send letters to Trump appointees “spelling out the consequences” they would also face if they “undermine the Constitution.”

“We’re already starting to put together a team to think through the most damaging types of things that [Trump] might do so that we’re ready to bring lawsuits if we have to,” said Mary McCord, executive director of the Institution for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown Law.

Polls largely indicate Trump will win the primary. While the polls also show a tight race between Trump and Biden, many end up giving the advantage to Trump. So, despite some fears over what a Trump second term would look like, half the country still intends to vote for him, according to Gallup data.
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Meta, facing heat from all sides, announces safety measures for minors

January 12, 2024
A bipartisan group of state attorneys general filed a joint lawsuit against Meta, alleging that Facebook’s parent company knowingly used addictive features in its apps, negatively impacting children’s health. Lawmakers, often in disagreement, united together to demand answers from Meta’s leadership on its impact on minors.

“Look, we have a tremendous amount of evidence and information that’s been developed that shows that Meta knowingly has designed its products in a way to maximize its ad revenue by addicting young teenagers onto its products,” District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb said.

“They hid from this committee and from all of Congress evidence of the harms that they knew was credible,” Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal said.

“They are deliberately misleading parents about what’s on their platform,” Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley said. “They are deliberately misleading parents about the safety of their children online.”

Now, Meta announces plans to expand safety measures for children and teens on its social media platforms. The goal is to make it harder for young users to come across sensitive content.

The company will implement restrictive settings on the accounts of teens and children, preventing users from searching “sensitive topics” and prompting teens to update their privacy settings.

In a blog post, Meta said Facebook and Instagram will hide search results for content related to suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, and nudity. Teens can still make posts on these subjects but won’t see them in their feed or stories, even if shared by someone they follow.

Meta aims to automatically place all teens under the most restrictive content control setting. These changes follow a whistleblower’s testimony to a Senate panel in November, stating that Meta knew harmful content was present on its platforms and company executives were taking no action.

“As a parent, I took the work personally,” Arturo Bejar, a former Meta employee, said. “By the time I left in 2015, I thought the work was going in the right direction. A few years later, my 14-year-old daughter joined Instagram. She and her friends began having awful experiences, including repeated unwanted sexual advances and harassment. She reported the incidents to the company, and it did nothing.”

Meta states the new update should be complete in a couple of weeks, just in time for CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s child safety testimony on Capitol Hill.
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Senators ask Mark Zuckerberg to hand over emails about harm to children

November 16, 2023
A bipartisan group of senators is asking Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to hand over a series of emails, documents and presentations. These materials may reveal what executives knew about their platform’s harm to children.

The request is in response to testimony from former Facebook employee Arturo Bejar, who said he informed Zuckerberg and other executives about internal research showing that young people were having harmful experiences on Instagram.

Bejar said when he worked at Facebook as the director of engineering for Protect and Care, the team created features to build a safer environment. He left the company in 2015 but rejoined as a consultant after his teenage daughters received unwanted sexual advances on Instagram.

I discovered that most of the tools for kids that we had put in place during my earlier time at Facebook had been removed.
Arturo Bejar, former Facebook employee

“I discovered that most of the tools for kids that we had put in place during my earlier time at Facebook had been removed,” Bejar told Congress. “I observed new features being developed in response to public outcry, which were, in reality, kind of a placebo, a safety feature in name only.”

“And it seems to me that the reaction was to pat you on the head and, in effect, tell you to go away, be a good boy,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said to Bejar.

The senators are asking for emails from Bejar to Zuckerberg, former COO Sheryl Sandberg and other executives. They are also asking for all correspondence related to outreach from members of Instagram’s well-being team to senior executives recommending additional investment and staffing to address “currently underinvested” teen well-being areas.

The lawmakers accused Meta of misleading Congress by concealing and misrepresenting its knowledge about threats to young people.

“Meta hid this information from the public and Congressional oversight while providing misleading statistics, ignoring recommendations to protect teens, and even rolling back safety tools,” the senators said in their letter.

The lawmakers are requesting this information no later than Nov. 30.

The request letter was signed by Sens. Blumenthal, Durbin, D-Ill., Blackburn, R-Tenn., Graham, R-S.C., Warren D-Mass., and Hawley, R-Mo.

In October, 33 state attorneys general sued Meta, accusing the company of using addictive features to keep young people on its platforms longer. They also said Meta misled the public about the “substantial dangers” of its platforms.
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Senate resolution says President Biden has the authority to strike Iran

November 14, 2023
A bipartisan group of senators introduced a resolution urging President Biden to keep all options on the table, including the use of military force, if Iran or its proxies attack Israel or the greater region. The group hopes the resolution will send a clear message to Iran to stay out of the Israel-Hamas war.

“Iran you expand this war, there won’t be an [authorization for use of military force], we don’t need one,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said. “Just go for it. Just knock you out, you know, hit you where it hurts.”

“We want to avoid any stupid mistakes on the part of Iran, any recklessness,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said.

The resolution doesn’t require the president to do anything, but it’s a clear message that the chamber supports retaliatory strikes if Iran or an Iran-supported entity escalates the current war.

The resolution would apply to attacks from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Hamas, Hezbollah or any other group which Iran has provided financing, training or other forms of support. It also encourages the U.S., Israel and Saudi Arabia to keep working to normalize relations between the Jewish state and Arab world leader.

“The worst nightmare for Iran, as I said before, is for the Arab world to reconcile Israel and move toward the light away from the darkness,” Graham said.

The group commended Biden for moving naval assets to the Eastern Mediterranean, but said he should do more to sanction Iran. According to the group, that should include strengthening sanctions on Iran’s economy, oil industry and ballistic missiles.

“There is a whole suite of things we can be doing right now as a country to weaken Iran and choke them off,” Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said. “This is not kinetic. This is just good old fashioned, hard reimposition of serious sanctions.

The U.S. has carried out airstrikes on targets in Syria linked to Iran-backed militias, but the senators said the president should hit Iranian Revolutionary Guard bases inside Iran if an American service member is killed by an Iranian strike.

At least 50 American military members have been injured in Iranian-linked attacks since the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas.

The resolution was introduced by:
- Sen. Lindsey Graham.
- Sen. Richard Blumenthal.
- Sen. Dan Sullivan.
- Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala.
- Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.
- Sen. Susan Collins R-Maine.
- Sen. Jacky Rosen D-Nev.
- Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.
- Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.
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Menendez won’t attend classified Israel briefing as many call for his resignation

October 17, 2023
Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., will not attend a classified briefing on Israel on Wednesday, Oct. 18. Pressure is building for him to resign in the wake of a new indictment accusing him of conspiring to act as a foreign agent on behalf of Egypt while he was chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.

“He’s not going to attend the briefing tomorrow,” Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters. “I’ve had private conversations. I don’t get involved in what happened in them on this kind of thing. He’s not attending.”

Menendez was first indicted in September under accusations of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in the form of cash, gold bars and a Mercedes in exchange for using his official position as senator to help a group of New Jersey businessmen and the government of Egypt.

On Wednesday, all senators will receive a classified briefing on Israel. When Menendez was the Foreign Relations chairman, this would have been directly under his purview. Now, senators are calling for his resignation.

“I think that Senator Menendez ought to make a decision about what is the right thing to do,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said. “I think he should resign, and I think he should resign before the briefing.”

“We’re getting into the— to the T-word territory here. You know, where we’re trading secrets on behalf of a foreign nation. I mean that’s pretty serious stuff,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said.

New Jersey’s junior senator, Cory Booker, has called on Menendez to resign but stopped short of saying he should be expelled.

“You’re asking a person that’s served with this guy for 10 years. Everything about this makes me feel uncomfortable. Having to call for his resignation makes me feel uncomfortable,” Booker told CNN’s Manu Raju.

More than 30 Senate Democrats are calling for Menendez to resign. New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy also called on the senator to step down.
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Barrett calls SCOTUS ethics code a ‘good idea,’ senator tells Alito, Thomas to ‘get out of the way’

October 17, 2023
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett said it would be a “good idea” for the high court to adopt its own code of ethics. Justice Barrett made the comments during a lecture at the University of Minnesota Law School.

“Particularly so that we could communicate to the public exactly what it is that we are doing,” Barrett said, according to KARE 11 Minneapolis.

Barrett didn’t give details on if or when that might happen, or what exactly it would include.

“All nine justices are very committed to the highest standards of ethical conduct,” Barrett said.

In September, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said the court will take concrete steps to address ethics soon.

The justices have been under intense pressure to create a stronger code after reporting revealed Justice Thomas went on all-expenses-paid vacations with a conservative billionaire, Justice Alito rode on the private jet of a man who had business before the court, and Justice Sotomayor’s government-paid staff called colleges to encourage them to buy copies of her book.

Both Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee agreed with Barrett and said a code of ethics would be a good thing.

“The implacable wall of Supreme Court resistance is breaking,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said. “What’s so apparent now is that there are essentially two Supreme Court justices standing in the way of a code of ethics, Alito and Thomas. They ought to lead or get out of the way.”

“I do think it’s something that the court itself should deal with rather than Congress to try to impose something on them. Because then it will be unnecessarily political. And what we need is for people to have confidence in our judiciary, including the Supreme Court,” Sen. John Cornyn R-Texas, told reporters.

Democratic senators introduced a bill that would require the Supreme Court to create a code of ethics for itself, but they have not been able to pass it.
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AI can create deepfake child porn. State AGs want Congress to address that.

September 7, 2023
Every state attorney general in the country is asking Congress to investigate and pass new laws that address artificial intelligence’s ability to make child pornography. In a letter to congressional leaders, the attorneys general said AI is “creating a new frontier for abuse that makes such prosecution more difficult.”

The letter detailed exactly how the crimes are committed.

“AI tools can rapidly and easily create ‘deepfakes’ by studying real photographs of abused children to generate new images showing those children in sexual positions,” the letter said. “This involves overlaying the face of one person on the body of another. Deepfakes can also be generated by overlaying photographs of otherwise unvictimized children on the internet with photographs of abused children to create new CSAM involving the previously unharmed children.” 

The letter is reaching a receptive audience in Congress.

“Child Sexual Abuse material is rampant, and vicious. And we need more protection against AI propagation and spread of it,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal D-Conn., told Straight Arrow News.

Sens. Blumenthal and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said they will be introducing legislation that addresses this soon. The bill is expected to target Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act which creates a liability shield for online service providers, like Facebook and Twitter, for content users post on their sites.

“Artificial intelligence should have no, none, legal immunity like many social media outlets now have. AI can spread and propagate Child Sexual Abuse Material that does enduring a devastating harm to kids,” Blumenthal said.

“I would make it clear that they are liable for civil suits. And I think people ought to be able to get into court and sue them,” Hawley said.

The Senate is holding its inaugural AI forum Wednesday, Sept. 13, when a bipartisan group of lawmakers will meet with the top minds in AI to develop a plan for congressional action.

“We can’t put our heads in the sand like ostriches. If we don’t do anything AI is going to move forward without us and the dangers could be maximized and the opportunities could be minimized,” Sen. Chuck Schumer D-N.Y. said.

Congress is also working on legislation that will regulate how AI companies handle intellectual property and name, image and likeness.
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McConnell reiterates support after risking border deal over Trump opposition

‘I’m not a yes vote today’: Is the Senate close to passing Ukraine-border bill?

Biden granting immigrants parole 105x more than Trump and Obama

Advocacy groups preparing litigation in case of Trump reelection

Senate resolution says President Biden has the authority to strike Iran

Menendez won’t attend classified Israel briefing as many call for his resignation

Barrett calls SCOTUS ethics code a ‘good idea,’ senator tells Alito, Thomas to ‘get out of the way’

AI can create deepfake child porn. State AGs want Congress to address that.

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McConnell reiterates support after risking border deal over Trump opposition

‘I’m not a yes vote today’: Is the Senate close to passing Ukraine-border bill?

Biden granting immigrants parole 105x more than Trump and Obama

Advocacy groups preparing litigation in case of Trump reelection

Meta, facing heat from all sides, announces safety measures for minors

Senators ask Mark Zuckerberg to hand over emails about harm to children

Senate resolution says President Biden has the authority to strike Iran

Menendez won’t attend classified Israel briefing as many call for his resignation

Barrett calls SCOTUS ethics code a ‘good idea,’ senator tells Alito, Thomas to ‘get out of the way’

AI can create deepfake child porn. State AGs want Congress to address that.