Gay marriage battle rages as N.Y. senators debate taxes and rent

New York (CNN) -- A day after state lawmakers were due to head home, a pair of controversial issues seem to stubbornly postpone their summer recess.

The first is something that many call a quintessential New York battle: Whether to enact the first statewide cap on property taxes. The cap is linked to the extension of rent control laws that apply to roughly 1 million apartments, most of them in New York City.

The second is the subject of national debate: Should New York become the sixth state in the union to adopt same-sex marriage laws?

Monday was technically the last official day of the legislative session, but the votes are still pending.

On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos said lawmakers had reached a "framework for an agreement" on the rent and tax issues, but acknowledged that same-same sex marriage was not a part of those deliberations.

The Senate has struggled to bring to the floor a bill that would legalize the unions, but separate talks continued Tuesday, according to a spokesman for Skelos.

A vote on the measure, which the state Assembly passed Wednesday night, has been stalled in part by Republican concerns over protections for religious institutions against the potential for litigation in the wake of the proposed law.

Republicans, led by Skelos, have expressed concerns over the "unintended consequences" of a bill that redefines the legal parameters of marriage.

On Monday, hundreds of demonstrators filled the state Capitol in Albany in anticipation of the vote, chanting slogans and wielding signs for and against the controversial measure.

At last public count, 31 senators, including two Republicans, were in favor of the bill. Its backers need one more GOP member to vote in favor for it to pass.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who proposed the bill, says it would grant same-sex couples equal rights to marry "as well as hundreds of rights, benefits and protections that are currently limited to married couples of the opposite sex."

The first-term governor has lobbied opposition and undecided senators in an effort to secure the lone vote needed for the bill's passage.

Meanwhile, Greg Ball -- one of several Republican senators who are considered on the fence over the pending vote -- reiterated his party's concerns about the legislation's potential impact on religious institutions.

"I'm not going to vote for a bill where Catholic adoption agencies or religious organizations are shut down or are opened up to lawsuits," he said Friday, noting that adoption agencies were closed after same-sex marriage laws were adopted in other states. He declined to elaborate.

Democrat Tom Duane, an openly gay member of the state Senate, countered Friday that there are "already laws on the books in New York state which protect people of faith."

"Marriage is a civil right. People get married, and it is recognized in government," he said. "We're talking about the government recognizing same-sex equality."

But the passage of same-sex marriage laws faces a daunting history in the New York state legislature.

The Senate rejected a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in 2009 and has blocked the last three attempts by the state's lower house to get the proposed legislation signed into law.

Although New York currently does not grant same-sex marriages, a 2008 appellate court ruling upheld the right of couples to have their same-sex marriages recognized if they are performed elsewhere.

The current measure would amend the state's Domestic Relations Law to say, among other changes, that "no application for a marriage license shall be denied on the ground that the parties are of the same or a different sex."

Five states -- Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont and New Hampshire -- and the District of Columbia currently grant same-sex marriage licenses.

CNN's Dana Garrett contributed to this report.

CNN

'Gang of Six' Senators Under Pressure to Strike Budget Deal After Credit Rating Warning

AP

Shown here are Sens. Tom Coburn, left, and Kent Conrad.

With partisan squabbling increasing ahead of a vote to raise the nation's borrowing limit, aides to a bipartisan "gang of six" lawmakers in the Senate are working through a holiday recess on a deal to slash the country's skyrocketing debt and deficit. 

Staffers for the group tell Fox News that their goal is to produce an agreement by May 2 to present to Congress when lawmakers return from their Easter break. 

And with Monday's blunt warning from the credit rating agency Standard & Poor's about U.S. debt, and the financial markets' subsequent drop, the pressure is growing more intense. 

"This is one more warning sign that the financial markets are paying close attention to see if we are serious about addressing our budget deficits and long-term debt," said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., a former governor and lead organizer of the so-called "gang of six," in a statement released by his office. 

S&P, which downgraded its outlook on the U.S. from "stable" to "negative" for the first time since World War II, based its pessimism on doubts that Congress could overcome partisan gridlock to tackle the problem. 

Fox News has learned that aides to the senators are working overtime to have a plan ready when lawmakers return to the Capitol, which will be less than two weeks from when the Obama administration estimates the government will have exhausted its $14.3 trillion debt limit. 

The plan is expected to mirror one put forward by the president's own deficit commission, of which all six lawmakers were a part. The commission plan would cut the debt by roughly $4 trillion over 10 years, touching every area of the budget, including entitlements, taxes, and defense spending. 

"They're working like mad. There's definitely a lot of pressure, but who knows if they'll get to a place that everyone can support. I think there's a growing feeling that they just have to," said one senior staffer close to the talks who requested anonymity, because of the sensitivity of the negotiations. 

With Republicans promising to hold up Obama's request for a debt limit increase without major spending reductions and the White House warning of a "global economic calamity" if the ceiling isn't raised, the pressure on the negotiators is intense. 

"The talks have almost collapsed a few times," according to another source familiar with the negotiations who also asked to remain anonymous in order not to jeopardize the deal. The source said the group is "in a much better place now." 

"All the members are optimistic about getting a deal. It's been rough going at times, but they've stuck with it. It's too big a problem not to try to solve," said the staffer. 

Gang members include Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois, number two in his party's leadership, Warner, and Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad of North Dakota. On the Republican side are Sens. Tom Coburn, dubbed "Dr. No" for his fiscal hawk status, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and Mike Crapo of Idaho. 

While the other five are well-known figures in the Senate, Crapo has toiled outside the spotlight since he first came to Congress in 1998. In a chamber of headline-seekers, Crapo rarely attends news conferences and is not often seen in gaggles with reporters. But he is, perhaps, one of the most well-liked among his colleagues. 

No one in the gang of six is up for re-election, a factor that no doubt aids in their potential success, though the similarities between the Republicans and Democrats pretty much stops there.

But given the severity of the U.S debt picture, the group appears to have checked partisan hats at the door, imbued with a sense of urgency. And it faces many obstacles, not the least of which is a looming presidential election year, during which little substantive legislation is likely to be achieved. 

It certainly helps that the group, according to firsthand accounts, gets along well behind closed doors. Many meetings take place in Warner's fourth floor Russell Senate Office Building, mostly outside the path of reporters and cameras. The meetings typically switch off between members-only and staff. There usually is some kind of anteroom set up, according to a source, and the members and staff move back and forth conferring between the two. 

One essential ingredient to the group's recipe for success? "They always have a big spread of food," said a source. 

At one morning meeting, one budget expert baked homemade scones for the group. Sometimes, for the evening meetings, lawmakers meet over a glass of wine, according to the source. A little "gentle teasing" goes on between the members (Coburn and Durbin are especially known for this), but the members take the substance "quite seriously," said the source, adding, "There isn't really a single person pushing the talks along, it's a real group effort. You know, they frankly didn't know each other particularly well before this started, and they've grown pretty close over the last five months." 

The good humor will serve the group well when and if they can produce a package. At least 20 senators, Republican and Democrat, are waiting for the finished product, anxious to support some kind of deficit and debt reform package ahead of any debt ceiling increase. 

But there are many others who have cast a gloomy eye on the bipartisan work of the group. With Social Security reform on the table, according to Warner, the group is poised to run headlong into the powerful Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, who told reporters recently, "Social Security has not contributed one penny to the deficit. Leave Social Security alone." 

Then there's Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Reid's GOP counterpart, and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, who have said, emphatically, that tax increases are off the table, a position long a part of GOP orthodoxy. But Chambliss, along with Coburn and Crapo, has said that times have changed and that, most definitely, tax hikes will be in the final product, likely in the form of eliminated tax deductions in favor of personal and corporate tax rate reductions. 

"I'm taking arrows from some on the far right," Chambliss told the Rotary Club of Atlanta in a recent appearance with Warner, adding, "Are some people going to pay more in taxes? You bet." 

That will, no doubt, mobilize the influential anti-tax advocacy group Americans for Tax Reform, run by Grover Norquist, who doggedly holds lawmakers to their no-tax-increase pledge. 

Already, Coburn has been at loggerheads with Norquist merely for voicing support for a compromise on revenue measures, and the senator's spokesman now labels Norquist the "chief cleric of sharia tax law." And the arrows have continued in GOP circles, with one conservative blogger, Erick Erickson of Redstate.com, recently asking in a recent post, "Is Saxby Chambliss Becoming a Democrat?" 

Still, even in the face of so much bipartisan opposition, gang members are increasingly signaling that a deal is near. 

"I think there's a good chance that we'll be able to come up with a bipartisan agreement that people can swallow," Coburn predicted on "Fox News Sunday." 

"Nobody is going to like what we come up with," Coburn added, "The left isn't going to like it, and the right isn't going to like it. And that's one thing that would be an indicator that is probably the best compromise we're going to be able to get. So, I think there's a good likelihood that we can get there. It's not a sure thing." 

And Warner warned, "If we fail to take this seriously, and if our deficit and debt discussions turn into just another game of political brinksmanship, this could result in the most predictable economic crisis in our history."

Print Email Share Comments Recommend Tweet View ArticleLeave a CommentSort: NewestSort: Oldest Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. You must login to comment.

View Article

View All Comments

Latest Politics VideosMore »

View the Original article

Senators Boast New Deficit Reduction Plan Will 'Make Everybody Mad'

AP

Shown here are Sen. Tom Coburn, left, and Sen. Mark Warner.

Get ready for another deficit reduction plan. And this one, like the others on the table, will tick off a lot of people, its authors say. 

Two members of the so-called "gang of six" -- a bipartisan group of senators working to craft a long-term spending plan -- said Sunday they're making progress on their proposal, despite concerns expressed last week that the talks could be in trouble. 

And, in claiming the plan would take a balanced approach, they predicted Republicans and Democrats alike would despise it. 

"Let me assure you, we're going to make everybody mad," Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said. 

The work product is the latest in a string of cure-all budget plans meant to take the country off its course of seemingly endless debt accumulation. But the pressure is on, with partisan sparks flying over the plans already on the table. After Republican Rep. Paul Ryan outlined his budget proposal, Democrats said its prescribed overhauls to Medicare and Medicaid were cruel to seniors and the poor. After President Obama countered with a plan of his own, Republicans slammed him for turning to tax increases and suggested the rest of the document was fuzzy on details. 

Meanwhile, the comprehensive report from the fiscal commission created by the president more than a year ago died in committee. Underscoring the importance of the ongoing "gang of six" negotiations, fiscal commission co-chairman Alan Simpson said after Obama's budget speech Wednesday that people need to "pray for" the talks. 

Though Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who is part of the talks with Warner, said last week that the group was "not anywhere close" to an agreement, he said Sunday "there's a good chance that we'll be able to come up with a bipartisan agreement that people can swallow." 

That doesn't mean they'll be happy. 

"Nobody is going to like what we come up with," Coburn told "Fox News Sunday." "The left isn't going to like it and the right isn't going to like it. And that's one thing that would be an indicator that is probably the best compromise we're going to be able to get." 

Coburn said Americans need to know that lawmakers in Washington are "willing to lose elections to do what is best for the country." 

Coburn did not elaborate on the details of the plan, but Warner offered a few glimpses. 

In an interview with CBS' "Face the Nation," he said "everything has to be on the table." 

Warner said the group was working off the proposal from the president's fiscal commission and would be "touching every part of the problem," including Social Security -- something largely excluded from both Ryan's proposal and Obama's. 

"Part of this is just math -- 16 workers for every one retiree 50 years ago, three workers for every retiree now," Warner said. 

He also said the tax code needs to be addressed, not necessarily through tax increases but by eliminating deductions. He said the group is looking to impose about $3 in cuts for every $1 in increased revenue. 

"Charitable deduction, home mortgage deduction -- if we would cut back on some of those, we could actually lower rates and still increase revenues," he said. Warner said the group is "very close" to a deal. 

Anything that even resembles a tax increase, though, is anathema to many Republicans. 

Ryan, on "Face the Nation," reiterated that his party opposes the president's call to roll back the Bush tax cuts for top earners. He, like Warner, stressed the importance of targeting loopholes and deductions -- though Warner suggested Ryan's plan doesn't do enough to raise revenue. 

Tea Party-backed Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., also said tax increases are not the answer. Rather, he said the two parties could find middle ground by putting the Pentagon on the budget chopping block. 

"The compromise is not to raise taxes," Paul said on CNN's "State of the Union." "The compromise is for conservatives to admit that the military budget's going to have to be cut. ... The compromise is where we cut, not where we raise taxes." 

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said Sunday that despite the bickering, Republicans and Democrats do agree on something -- both sides are calling for about $4 trillion over the next decade or more. 

"We can agree on the broad targets," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press." 

Technically, Republicans are calling for $4.4 trillion in deficit reduction over 10 years, and Obama is calling for $4 trillion over 12 years. The Republican plan incorporates far more spending cuts than Obama's. But Geithner said the parties have the "same basic view" of the end goal. 

The "gang of six" is not expected to have a report until after the two-week spring recess that starts Monday. The other members on that panel are Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga.; Kent Conrad, D-N.D.; and Michael Crapo, R-Idaho. Conrad threatened last week that if the group doesn't come up with something soon, he might propose his own budget plan.

Print Email Share Comments Recommend Tweet View ArticleLeave a CommentSort: NewestSort: Oldest Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. You must login to comment.

View Article

View All Comments

Latest Politics VideosMore »

View the Original article

Obama Pitches Budget Deal, Tells Senators to Run With Details

Reuters

While deficit commission co-chairman Alan Simpson suggests prayer is the answer to finding long-term debt reduction, President Obama is counting on a small group of senators to turn his 2012 budget proposal submitted two months ago into a long-term plan to reduce the government's tab.

That's no easy task. The president's budget submission in February allows for a $1.2 trillion deficit in 2012 alone, and $9.4 trillion additional debt over 10 years, according to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office. 

But after continued reports of record-breaking debt numbers and a proposal from House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan to reduce debt by $6.2 billion over 10 years, the president this week outlined his own offering -- a plan that called for $4 trillion in savings over 12 years, in part by increasing current tax rates for families earning $250,000 or more. 

"It is a balanced plan that asks for shared sacrifice in order to provide shared opportunity for all Americans," Obama said Thursday after a meeting with his deficit commission co-chairmen. 

The proposal doesn't come with any new budget revisions being sent to Congress, a decision that was not an afterthought, according to the Office of Management and Budget.

"The 2012 budget already exists," an OMB spokeswoman told Fox News on Thursday. "The framework outlined yesterday builds on the president's 2012 budget to provide a comprehensive, balanced approach to deficit reduction. The president's goal was to lay out his vision, not to write specific legislation or present every detail and say take it or leave it. This charts a path forward."

That decision didn't please the Senate Budget Committee ranking Republican Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.

"The president has obviously recognized that the budget he submitted was inadequate," Sessions told FoxNews.com. But instead of offering a revised budget, which is required by the Congressional Budget Act, Obama is taking the stage to try to discredit Ryan, he said. 

"They have no intention of actually following through the speech with concrete proposals that Congress can evaluate," he said. "The idea he's proposing can't be evaluated because it's just talk."

Without a revised budget, getting from Obama plan 1.0 to Obama plan 2.0 appears to be a task left at the doorstep of the Gang of Six -- three Republicans and three Democrats who served on the failed deficit panel but are committed to looking for a middle ground on debt reduction.  

Jack Lew, the president's budget chief, called it a "significant challenge" to get "from here to where we need to go," but said the most popular commentary in Washington is to say it's impossible to reach an agreement.

"When Congress gets back ...  the vice president will meet with leaders and lay out the issues that they need to work through, with a pretty tight deadline, with the goal of having progress by Memorial Day" and a vote in June, he said.

"The important thing is that we have action," said Erskine Bowles, a deficit commission co-chairman who met with Obama and his co-chairman Simpson on Thursday. 

Calling the Gang of Six "very brave, bold senators," Bowles said it will likely be up to it to come up with legislative language for a vote.

"I don't think anybody has a crystal ball, but I do think we have a framework set up," he said. "Every single plan is talking about $4 trillion of deficit reduction. That's the key and now what we have to do is take the best ideas out of all plans and get to real action."

"I think they will put out their plan, and then if anybody else wants to put in a plan we suggest that they do so, and that would be a wonderful thing, and then we'll just mess around the plans and see where's the best results," Simpson added. 

But their confidence belies the trouble the Gang of Six is having reaching an agreement.

Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., a member of the Gang of Six, told Fox News that everything is on the table -- entitlements, domestic spending and revenue in the form of tax reforms. 

But Conrad, who as Budget Committee chairman is responsible for submitting a Democratic budget in the Senate, said he's been holding off so as to give every chance for the group to come together. 

"I think that's what's required at the end of the day," he said. "Look, neither party can do this on its own. This is a circumstance in which one party controls the House, one controls the Senate. Of course the president has his own views, so if we don't come together, nothing is going to happen."

But Sessions said he's perplexed by the decision to leave it to six senators unknown to most of America. 

"The Gang of Six, I'm not sure how they were selected or how they're expected to perform, and we have no confidence they will reach any agreement," he said, adding that maybe it could come up with some ideas, but the group is limited in latitude. "They're not able to do much more than sit around a room and give and take a little bit."

Ryan, R-Wis., whose legislation is expected to get a House vote before Congress leaves this week for a two-week spring break, said he's more encouraged that his bill will pass now that the president has failed to lead with a revised budget and offered what he described as a slanted speech to the nation. 

"When the commander-in-chief sort of brings himself down to the level of the partisan mosh pit that we've been in, that we are in, it makes it more difficult to bring that kind of leadership," he said.

Related Links Congress Passes Budget for 2011, Sends to Obama for Signature Print Email Share Comments Recommend Tweet View ArticleLeave a CommentSort: NewestSort: Oldest Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. You must login to comment.

View Article

View All Comments

Latest Politics VideosMore »

View the Original article

Senators Propose Tighter Restrictions on Military Funeral Protests

Reuters

Nov. 11, 2010: Members of the Westboro Baptist Church hold anti-gay signs at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia on Veterans Day.

A bipartisan group of senators on Thursday introduced a bill to strengthen restrictions on protests at military funerals, in response to a Supreme Court ruling in favor of a Kansas church notorious for picketing troops' funerals. 

The Supreme Court last month ruled that the Westboro Baptist Church's widely despised protests count as protected speech under the Constitution. The new proposal aims not to challenge that decision, but tighten existing restrictions to give grieving families more privacy. 

"Those who fight and die in the service of our country deserve our highest respect. Their families have earned the right to bury their loved ones in peace. The SERVE Act strikes a balance between the sanctity of a funeral service and the right to free speech," Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, said in a statement. 

The SERVE Act stands for "The Sanctity of Eternal Rest for Veterans." The bill would increase the buffer zone around military funerals from 150 feet to 300 feet, and increase the buffer around routes to the funerals from 300 feet to 500 feet. 

It would also increase the amount of "quiet time" before and after services from one hour to two hours and increase penalties. 

The Westboro Baptist Church, though, has threatened to challenge statutes across the country that restrict picketing, in light of the Supreme Court decision. 

The Supreme Court ruled 8-1, with only Justice Samuel Alito dissenting, that the protests were protected speech. 

"Speech is powerful. It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow, and -- as it did here -- inflict great pain," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in his majority opinion. "On the facts before us, we cannot react to that pain by punishing the speaker. As a nation we have chosen a different course -- to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate." 

Other co-sponsors on the military funerals bill were: Sens. Ben Cardin, D-Md.; Dan Coats, R-Ind.; Kent Conrad, D-N.D.; Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.; John Hoeven, R-N.D.; Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas; Mike Johanns, R-Neb.; Mark Kirk, R-Ill.; Mark Pryor, D-Ark.; Harry Reid, D-Nev.; Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va.; Marco Rubio, R-Fla.; and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.

Print Email Share Comments Recommend Tweet View ArticleLeave a CommentSort: NewestSort: Oldest Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. You must login to comment.

View Article

View All Comments

Latest Politics VideosMore »

View the Original article

GOP Senators Try Again to Restrict 'Birthright Citizenship'

AP

Shown here are Sen. David Vitter, left, and Sen. Rand Paul.

Several Republican senators are taking another crack at preventing the children of illegal immigrants from gaining automatic U.S. citizenship. 

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., and three colleagues on Tuesday announced a bill that would restrict so-called "birthright citizenship" by amending the Immigration and Nationality Act. U.S. law provides that anyone born on U.S. soil is a citizen, but the proposal would change that, to require at least one parent to be a U.S. citizen, legal resident or member of the U.S. military. 

In announcing the bill, Vitter referenced recent reports about a cluster of condos in California that were allegedly converted into maternity centers for Chinese women who want to give birth to children inside the U.S. 

"'Birth tourism' is certainly a reprehensible practice, but it is not an illegal one yet," Vitter said in a statement. "It is astounding that the U.S. government allows individuals to exploit the loopholes of our immigration system in this manner, and Congress has the authority and the obligation to put a stop to it once and for all." 

Vitter and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., previously introduced the proposal as a constitutional amendment meant to change the 14th Amendment, which outlines citizenship rights. 

Vitter claims the 14th Amendment has been misinterpreted. 

But while the latest proposal might find some supporters, the constitutional amendment stands a slim chance of passing, as it would have to be approved by a two-thirds majority in both chambers of Congress and ratified by three-quarters of the state legislatures. And critics of the push say it won't address the problem of illegal immigration. 

Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, also co-authored the latest GOP proposal.

Print Email Share Comments Recommend Tweet View ArticleLeave a CommentSort: NewestSort: Oldest Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. You must login to comment.

View Article

View All Comments

Latest Politics VideosMore »

View the Original article

Senators Consider Hamid Karzai's Request to Condemn Koran Burning Amid Protests

AP

Afghan protestors shout anti-U.S. slogans during a demonstration in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, April 3.

U.S. lawmakers said Sunday they would consider a request by Afghan President Hamid Karzai to formally condemn a Florida pastor's decision to burn the Koran, after the act triggered deadly riots in Afghanistan. 

The protests entered their third day Sunday as demonstrators battled police in the southern city of Kandahar and, in the eastern city of Jalalabad, blocked a highway and burned an effigy of President Obama. 

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid repudiated pastor Terry Jones for touching off the chaos with what he called a "publicity stunt." Jones had earlier threatened to burn the Koran, but then shelved the plan until last month. The burning attracted little U.S. attention at the time but was used as a rallying cry in Afghanistan. 

"This was an effort to get some publicity for him. He got it. But in the process, 10-20 people have been killed," Reid said on CBS' "Face the Nation." 

Asked whether Congress could pass a resolution condemning it, he said, "We'll take a look at this." 

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., suggested Congress should condemn the burning, but also stressed that one pastor's actions should not excuse the subsequent killings. 

"Burning a Koran is a terrible thing, but it doesn't justify killing someone. Burning a Bible would be a terrible thing, but it wouldn't justify murder," he said. "But having said that, any time we can push back here in America against actions like this that put our troops at risk, we ought to do it." 

Obama had a similar message, saying in a written statement that Jones' actions marked "an act of extreme intolerance and bigotry," but that the violence must stop. 

"To attack and kill innocent people in response is outrageous, and an affront to human decency and dignity," Obama said. 

The violence started Friday, when demonstrators in the previously peaceful northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif poured into the streets after Friday prayers and overran a U.N. compound, killing three U.N. staff members and four Nepalese guards. 

On Saturday, hundreds of Afghans holding copies of the Koran over their heads marched in Kandahar before starting to attack cars and businesses. Security forces opened fire and nine protesters were killed, but the governor of Kandahar said officers had only fired into the air. He said 81 were wounded and 17 people, including seven armed men, had been arrested. 

Military commander Gen. David Petraeus and the top NATO civilian representative in Afghanistan, Mark Sedwill, said that they "hope the Afghan people understand that the actions of a small number of individuals, who have been extremely disrespectful to the Holy Koran, are not representative of any of the countries of the international community who are in Afghanistan to help the Afghan people." 

The Taliban said in a statement emailed to media outlets that the U.S. and other Western countries had wrongly excused the burning of the Koran on March 20 as freedom of speech and that Afghans "cannot accept this un-Islamic act." 

"Afghan forces under the order of the foreign forces attacked unarmed people during the protests, killing them and arresting some, saying there were armed people among these protesters, which was not true," the Taliban said. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related Links Clinton 'Concerned' by Ivory Coast Violence, Calls on Election Loser to Step Down Print Email Share Comments Recommend Tweet View ArticleLeave a CommentSort: NewestSort: Oldest Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. You must login to comment.

View Article

View All Comments

Latest Politics VideosMore »

View the Original article

Senators play down talk of government shutdown

Senior members of the U.S. Senate played down talk of a government shutdown, saying on Sunday morning talk shows that a final agreement could be worked out to avert such a drastic step.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., suggested that the key will come down to fiscally conservative Democrats who agree with Republicans on how much to cut in federal spending for the remaining six months of fiscal year 2011.

"There are enough red-state Democrats" to get a deal worked out, Graham said on CBS' Face the Nation.

The current stopgap bill funding the government expires on Friday, April 8.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he also believes congressional negotiators and the White House can come to a final agreement. "In Washington terms, we're just a few dollars short," Reid said, also appearing on CBS.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said on ABC's This Week: "I doubt there will be a shutdown." Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, also speaking on ABC, said he was "optimistic" that a shutdown will be avoided and added that "progress is being made."

On Graham's point, 85 Democrats joined 186 Republicans last month to pass the sixth in a series of short-term budget bills to keep the government running. Democrats in the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, such as Reps. Heath Shuler of North Carolina and Mike Ross of Arkansas, were among those "yes" votes.

President Obama and congressional Democrats say there is agreement to cut $33 billion for the rest of the year, which translates to $73 billion less than what the president proposed for fiscal year 2011. USA TODAY's On Politics has a primer on understanding the budget numbers here.

Still at issue, however, are policy proposals that Reid said have nothing to do with reducing the deficit. He cited Republican plans to cut funding for Head Start and homneless veterans, as just two examples. House Republicans included such proposals in the bill they passed in February that cut $61 billion from federal spending.

Reid also continued a theme he has sounded for weeks, arguing that Boehner and the House GOP leadership are giving too much weight to the concerns of the Tea Party movement, whose supporters are calling for deeper spending cuts. "Cut it or shut it," was a rallying cry at a gathering of the Tea Party Patriots at the U.S. Capitol last week.

"The Republican leadership in the House has to make a decision whether to do the right thing for the country or the right thing for the Tea Party," Reid said.

Boehner has said there is no agreement with congressional Democrats and the Obama administration on how much to cut. The House GOP leader insists Republicans "are going to fight for the largest spending cuts that we can get."

See photos of: Harry Reid, Jeff SessionsTags:Harry ReidLindsey GrahamJeff Sessions .div-wrapper

View the Original article

Senators decry anti-Muslim violence

By Saul Loeb, AFP/Getty Images

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois questions a witness at a hearing Tuesday on anti-Muslim discrimination.

EnlargeCloseBy Saul Loeb, AFP/Getty Images

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois questions a witness at a hearing Tuesday on anti-Muslim discrimination.

"Those who use this type of rhetoric, who burn Qurans and who engage in other forms of bigotry and discrimination may be few in number, but their bigoted conduct and remarks violate the spirit of our Bill of Rights," said Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin, D-Ill., chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights.

While subcommittee Democrats said special attention should be paid to hate crimes committed against Muslims in the USA, Republicans argued that Muslim Americans have not done enough to fight radicalism in their own communities.

View the Original article