Rhode Island lawmakers OK civil union bill

NEW: Senate passes bill that permits civil unions between gay and lesbian couplesNEW: If signed by Gov. Lincoln Chafee, the law would take effect on July 1Civil unions are currently permitted in New Jersey, Illinois, Delaware and Hawaii

(CNN) -- Less than a week after New York became the nation's sixth state to legalize same-sex marriage, Rhode Island state lawmakers on Wednesday voted in favor of a bill that permits civil unions between gay and lesbian couples.

The measure, which passed the state Senate by a count of 21-16, is widely seen as a compromise intended to provide same-sex couples with added rights and benefits, while also preventing an expanded legal definition of marriage.

Gov. Lincoln Chafee, an independent, is expected to sign the bill into law, according to his spokesman, Michael Trainor.

If signed, the law would take effect on July 1, making Rhode Island the fifth state in the union to allow civil unions between same-sex couples.

Such unions are currently permitted in New Jersey and Illinois, and will be allowed in Delaware and Hawaii beginning January 1, 2012.

Three West Coast states -- California, Oregon and Washington -- plus Nevada, also allow for "comprehensive domestic partnerships," largely considered an equivalent to their civil union counterparts.

Despite robust opposition to the measure, Rhode Island's Senate Judiciary Committee approved the bill by a vote of 7-4, sending it to the Democrat-controlled Senate floor where lawmakers voted in its favor, according to Senate spokesman, Greg Pare.

The legislation, which passed overwhelmingly in the state's lower house on May 19, affords same-sex couples a host of new state tax breaks, health-care benefits and greater ease of inheritance.

But it also drew sharp criticism from religious leaders and opposition groups who say it will lead to court-ordered action that would eventually legalize same-sex marriage.

Similar legal action in Connecticut and Massachusetts resulted in those states adopting same-sex marriage laws, noted Christopher Plante, executive director of the National Organization for Marriage's Rhode Island chapter.

Chafee -- who is supportive of potential legislation that legalizes same-sex marriage -- says civil unions are "a step in the right direction," according to Trainor.

Meanwhile, gay rights activists -- like Marriage Equality Rhode Island -- say that while they support the civil union bill, they would prefer legislation that permits same-sex couples to wed.

The group urged Chafee not to sign the measure if it includes a House amendment that permits groups with religious affiliations to refuse certain legal rights provided to civil unions.

For instance, a hospital with a religious affiliation could refuse a civil union partner from being involved in the emergency medical care decisions of their spouse if it chose to do so, said Ray Sullivan, a spokesman for the activist group.

Chafee is "very aware of the concerns that have been expressed," Trainor said, but will likely sign the bill into law, which passed the Senate with the controversial amendment included.

House spokesman Larry Berman called the issue a "red herring," pursued by the state's more radical activists.

The exemption, he said, is meant to provide religious protections against potential litigation.

"It's a small exception," Berman said, when compared to the slew of new rights and benefits same-sex couples would enjoy should the measure be signed into law.

Currently, Rhode Island and Maine are the only states in New England that do not permit same-sex marriage.

Last week, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo a signed a bill that legalizes same-sex marriage, more than doubling the number of Americans living in states that permit such unions.

The measure will take effect on July 24, providing gay and lesbian couples with new rights that include employer health benefits, easier inheritance and a host of state tax breaks.

Federal recognition, however, was not a part of Friday's vote, leaving benefits like Social Security and ease of immigration largely out of reach for same-sex couples.

The controversial bill passed New York's Republican-controlled Senate before reaching Cuomo's desk, in an extended legislative session that left many skeptical over whether lawmakers would bring the measure to a vote.

Iowa and the District of Columbia also allow gay and lesbian couples to wed.

CNN

California lawmakers pass budget deal

California Gov. Jerry Brown had veteod an earlier budget plan, forcing lawmakers to craft a new bill.California lawmakers pass main portions of budget dealThe state's $26 billion deficit would be cut to $5 billion under the proposalThe plan calls for massive cuts to human services, education and courtsDemocrats and the governor drafted the budget deal over Republican objections

(CNN) -- California lawmakers passed a budget bill Tuesday night that will reduce the state's monetary shortfall from $26 billion to $5 billion, officials said.

Both houses of the state's legislature passed the main portions of the budget after hours of committee meetings.

The Senate was still grappling with the education section of the deal late Tuesday, but the measure was expected to pass early Wednesday and go on to Gov. Jerry Brown for his signature.

"Democrats in the California State Legislature made tough choices and delivered an honest, balanced and on-time budget," Brown said in a statement. "(It) contains painful cuts and brings government closer to the people through an historic realignment. Putting our state on a sound and sustainable fiscal footing still requires much work, but we have now taken a huge step forward."

The deal, brokered by the governor and Democratic leaders over Republican objections, calls for massive cuts: $5 billion to health and human services, $1 billion to the corrections department, $650 million to the University of California system, another $650 million to the California State University system and hundreds of millions to the court system, officials said.

Brown warned it contains "tough decisions," but said "we have a very good plan for the budget."

The proposal also assumes $4 billion in additional revenue from a rebounding economy. That estimate is based on the state seeing that amount of additional revenue in the fiscal year ending this month, Brown said.

But if the recession-stressed economy falters and those revenues don't materialize over the next year, additional cuts will be enforced -- including eliminating a week from the school year and cutting the state funding for local school busing programs, according to Alicia Trost, press secretary for Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg.

Democrats were confident that the budget would be approved Tuesday, since the party controls both the Assembly and the Senate, and under a voter-approved measure last year, legislators can now pass a budget with a simple majority -- no longer needing a two-thirds majority, Trost said.

The proposal called for $85.9 billion in spending, down from $91.4 billion, Trost said.

Republicans criticized the budget measure. They had sought a spending cap, public pension changes and regulatory reform.

The proposal is a shift for Brown, who has said for months that the state's $26 billion budget gap should be addressed with a mix of spending cuts and extensions on taxes that are scheduled to expire Friday. He also was determined to fulfill his pledge to put the extension of personal income and sales taxes before the voters.

But Brown could not convince four Republicans to join him so he could get the tax extension on the ballot this fall. A budget containing a tax hike needs the support of two-thirds of lawmakers.

Still, Brown and fellow Democrats plan to put a tax measure on the ballot in November 2012 through a voter initiative -- bypassing the requirement for Republican consent -- and those funds would address the remaining deficit, Trost said.

In their criticism, Republicans accused the Democrats of being compromised by special interests such as public employee unions.

"While Democrats may still use legally questionable maneuvers to raise taxes, the simple truth is because of Republicans' resolve, temporary tax increases will expire this Friday and the average California family will save nearly $1,000 per year," said Assembly Republican Leader Connie Conway.

"Californians deserve a government that understands that money belongs to the people, not the government," she said. She added that Republicans' "steadfast opposition to higher taxes has helped remind Sacramento tax-and-spend liberals of the need to live within our means."

The latest proposal was put together less than two weeks after Brown vetoed a budget approved by the legislature, saying it was chock full of gimmicks and contained legally questionable maneuvers.

Lawmakers had raced to pass a spending plan by June 15 to meet a voter-imposed deadline that required the legislature to pass a balanced budget or forfeit their pay.

However, state controller John Chiang determined that the budget was actually unbalanced. So lawmakers, who earn $95,291 a year and $142 per diem for each day they are in session, have gone without pay since mid-month.

CNN's Kim Hutcherson contributed to this report

CNN

Lawmakers step up pressure on Obama over Libya (AFP)

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US lawmakers from the right and left on Saturday stepped up criticism of President Barack Obama over his Libya intervention after a report that he had overruled top government lawyers.

The New York Times reported Friday that Obama had rejected the opinions of top lawyers at the Pentagon and Justice Department who said the United States was engaged in "hostilities" in Libya requiring congressional approval.

The White House has argued that because US forces are playing a supporting role in the NATO air campaign and because no ground troops are involved it does not need legislative backing under the 1973 War Powers Resolution.

Republican Bob Corker, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, took aim at Obama over the Times report, accusing him of ignoring the Justice Department's opinion because it didn't fit his "agenda."

"If dropping bombs and firing missiles on military installations are not hostilities, I don't know what is. The president's actions on Libya are nothing short of bizarre," he said in a statement.

"The president would likely have received overwhelming support for the operations in Libya, but his approach has needlessly burned through goodwill with Congress and violated the trust of the American people."

Corker is the co-author, with Democratic Senator Jim Webb, of a resolution seeking an explanation for the US Libya mission, prohibiting the introduction of US ground forces and calling on Obama to seek congressional authorization.

Far left Democratic congressman Dennis Kucinich -- a staunch opponent of the US intervention -- said it was "very disturbing" that Obama was proceeding without congressional authorization despite the lawyers' advice.

"An immediate remedy to this fiasco is needed. Congress must move swiftly to cut off funds for the operation," Kucinich said, adding that the situation had the "makings of a Constitutional crisis."

"If a foreign nation launched drone missile attacks against the United States, I think we would agree such incursion would constitute hostilities.... War is war, even if it is conducted by robots in the air," he said.

Kucinich and nine other members of Congress have filed a federal lawsuit challenging Obama over US action in Libya.

The United States and Western allies launched a UN-backed bombing campaign against Libyan ruler Moamer Kadhafi's regime in March aimed at preventing his troops from marching on the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

The Libyan strongman had vowed to go house by house to hunt down pro-democracy protesters who took to the streets in February to demand the end of his 41-year reign amid similar uprisings across the Arab world.

Yahoo! News

Lawmakers ask Apple to explain iPhone's tracking function

Following up on yesterday's revelation of the Big Brother tracking capability of the iPhone and iPad, lawmakers are asking Apple to explain what data is collected, and at least one is calling for an inquiry.

Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the House Energy and Commerce committee and its former chairman, sent a letter today asking Apple to confirm the report and explain by May 12 how the data file works.

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) sent Apple a similar letter Wednesday.

The Wall Street Journal points out that Apple disclosed in a letter to Markey's committee last summer that the phone automatically transmits to itself information on a user's location.

Tech pundit Andy Ihnatko offers a "few reality checks" about what the iPhone is/isn't logging and why:

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Congresswoman Feigns Southern Accent to Deride Tea Party Lawmakers

Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif. , speaks to supporters on Friday, Oct. 15, 2010, outside the Old Orange County Courthouse in Santa Ana, Calif. (AP)

A Democratic congresswoman, frustrated with her interactions with a new class of Tea Party-backed conservative lawmakers, mocked them this week by talking in a Southern accent and referring to them as "Moe," during an interview on nationally syndicated radio show.

Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., told liberal host Stephanie Miller that every time she tries approaching one of the 87 freshman lawmakers in an effort to build relationships, they're always complaining about something being unconstitutional.

"Everything to them is unconstitutional," she said. "It's unconstitutional, it's unconstitutional, it's unconstitutional."

Miller said she doesn't know how Sanchez starts a conversation with some of them.

"Sanchez, can I see your papers? I don't believe you're a congresswoman. Let's see your birth certificate," she said.

The congresswoman, who represents Anaheim and other parts of Orange County, laughed and said she knows how to get along with people. Then she used a mock Southern accent to describe how conversations with them play out.

"Hey what's your name? 'My name is M-o-e,'" Sanchez said, feigning a Southern drawl that drew howls of laughter from Miller and her co-host. "Ok Moe. Moe-ster, how you doing baby? What are we going to do today? What's your interest? What can we work on together?"

"'Well, it's unconstitutional," she said, using her faux Southern accent.

Sanchez's spokeswoman did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

This isn't the first time Sanchez has played identity politics. During her re-election campaign last fall against Vietnamese challenger Van Tran, she came under heavy criticism for telling a Spanish-language TV station that the "Vietnamese" were trying to take her seat.

"The Vietnamese and the Republicans are, with an intensity, trying to take away this seat -- this seat that we have done so much for our community

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Arizona lawmakers OK 'birther' bill

measures.

The bill would require presidential and vice presidential candidates to provide the Arizona secretary of state with documents proving they are natural-born citizens.

Those documents can be either a long-form birth certificate or two or more other permitted documents, including an early baptismal certificate, circumcision certificate, hospital birth record, postpartum medical record signed by the person who delivered the child or an early census record.

If a candidate failed to submit required documents or the secretary of state deemed them insufficient, the candidate would not be listed on Arizona

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Lawmakers Weigh Giving Up Paychecks if Shutdown Forces Federal Furlough

AP

Sen. Joe Manchin listens to testimony on Capitol Hill March 29 during a hearing on Libya.

With Congress headed for a shutdown unless a spending deal is reached, lawmakers are trying to make this failure of governance seem a tad less offensive to everyday Americans by vowing to give back part of their $174,000 paychecks. 

The fact that hundreds of thousands of federal workers could be furloughed while, by law, the members of Congress who caused the problem would continue to get paid is a cruel twist in the mechanics of a shutdown. In response, lawmakers have floated several ideas for docking their own pay. 

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who is independently wealthy, told Fox News he already gives his salary away to charity. But regardless of economic station, he urged his colleagues to follow suit and turn away their paychecks if the government shuts down. 

"Members should not be saying, 'Well, I need my money when in fact other federal workers aren't getting it," Issa said. 

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va. -- who also is a millionaire, though he accepts a congressional paycheck -- plans to either decline pay or donate it to charity if there's a shutdown, a spokesman told FoxNews.com. 

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., said she will donate her pay to a nonprofit serving military families.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., made a similar pledge, passing around a letter to colleagues Thursday urging them to join him in returning their paychecks. 

"The bottom line is this: I can't imagine that the President, Vice President or any Member of Congress -- Republican or Democrat -- thinks they should get paid when the government has shut down," Manchin wrote. 

Not everyone's signing on. 

On the House side, Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., told MSNBC she can't afford it. 

"I have to tell you that I live paycheck to paycheck, like most Americans," she said, explaining that she has student loans, a 2-year-old son and residences on both coasts. "It's very difficult for me to say, 'Hey, I can give up my paycheck,' because the reality is, I have financial obligations that I have to meet on a month-to-month basis that doesn't make it possible for me. 

"Now if you're a member of Congress who is a millionaire, and there are quite a few members of the House and Senate that are, it's really not a problem for them," she added. 

Some lawmakers have tried to require that members of Congress don't get paid in the event of a shutdown. 

"They shouldn't be getting paid. Just like federal employees shouldn't be getting paid," House Speaker John Boehner told ABC News. 

But there are political and constitutional hurdles. 

The Senate already passed a Democrat-authored bill to block congressional salaries last month. But the House did not follow. 

"If Speaker Boehner were really serious about preventing members of Congress from being paid during a government shutdown, he would immediately pass our 'no budget, no pay' bill," Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said in a statement Thursday. 

Yet Democrats also will not take up a Republican version of the congressional no-pay bill -- one which was connected to a House budget bill cutting $61 billion which Democrats roundly oppose. 

Not only will neither chamber pass the other's no-pay bill, but the 27th Amendment to the Constitution provides that laws changing congressional pay don't take effect until the following term. 

Issa noted this concern, as did Sen. Christopher Coons, D-Del. But Coons said the Constitution wouldn't prevent lawmakers from volunteering to give up their pay. 

"There is a constitutional issue here. We might have to voluntarily give back our pay in the event of a shutdown. But I think the pain here ought to be spread broadly," Coons told Fox News. "The average folks out there watching this ought to know that we in Washington get it, that a shutdown is an embarrassing failure on our part to do the job we were hired to come here and do." 

Dan Weiser, spokesman for the chief administrative officer of the House, said members of Congress have to receive their paychecks by law, but that, if they don't give them to charity, they can also use them to pay down the national debt. However, The Washington Post reported last month that just a few lawmakers have gotten in the habit of doing that, and that donations from Congress to the debt totaled just $15,000 in 2010. 

Meanwhile, the Obama administration is urging Congress to make sure federal workers get back-pay in the event of a shutdown, even though they would not be paid during the shutdown itself. 

Jeffrey Zients, deputy director in the White House Office of Management and Budget, noted that furloughed employees were ultimately paid retroactively following the 1995 shutdown, and urged Congress to make sure they are reimbursed should the government shut down this weekend.

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Lawmakers Reject Upbeat Afghanistan-Pakistan View

Associated Press

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WASHINGTON -- Some lawmakers are rejecting an upbeat government assessment of U.S. policy in Pakistan and Afghanistan. They say that despite billions in aid to the countries, most people there still hate America.

Members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs also voiced skepticism Tuesday about building democracy in the tribal society of Afghanistan.

Senior State Department official Daniel Feldman said al-Qaida was under pressure as never before at the Afghan-Pakistan border and the Taliban's momentum has been reversed in south Afghanistan. He said Pakistan's government is increasingly exerting control over its territory.

Democratic Rep. Gary Ackerman said: "After hearing the same sales pitch for 10 years, I doubt it." And Republican Rep. Steve Chabot said: "We spend all this money and they still hate us."

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Obama Summons Lawmakers to White House Budget Talks

Associated Press

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WASHINGTON -- President Obama on Monday summoned key lawmakers from both parties to the White House for budget talks in hopes of avoiding a government shutdown this weekend. 

The White House said the president has invited House Speaker John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and top negotiators on the appropriations committees to a session Tuesday. 

Obama spokesman Jay Carney said time was running short and the president would urge the lawmakers to reach an agreement. 

Carney said the White House was optimistic that a shutdown could be averted, but a top Republican did not share that optimism. 

Boehner, R-Ohio, said there were still disagreements about how much to cut spending through Sept. 30, the end of the budget year. He accused the White House of bringing too many phony budget cuts to the table in hopes of restoring reductions made by Republicans in February. 

"Despite attempts by Democrats to lock in a number among themselves, I've made clear that their $33 billion is not enough and many of the cuts that the White House and Senate Democrats are talking about are full of smoke and mirrors," Boehner said in a statement. "That's unacceptable." 

Democratic officials knowledgeable about the proposals said the administration's ideas including taking unused money from federal highway programs and leftover funds from a program providing health care to middle-class families. Both ideas count in congressional budget terms as savings that could be used to pay for spending elsewhere in the day-to-day budgets of domestic agencies, but their practical effect is nil. 

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss proposals that haven't been made public. 

Despite his protests, Boehner's own Republican appropriators have claimed $5 billion in questionable savings from capping payments from a trust fund for crime victims. 

At issue is long-overdue legislation required to fund the operating budgets of every Cabinet agency for the ongoing budget year, which is already half over. 

Negotiations have centered on cuts in the range of $33 billion -- a figure that has allowed congressional staff aides to works through the measure line by line -- but Boehner has repeatedly said there is no agreement on how much to cut. The White and Democrats also are balking over more than 50 policy provisions that House Republicans have attached to the measure. 

Such policy "riders" include cutting off implementation of the new health care law and forbidding taxpayer money from going to Planned Parenthood.

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Lawmakers Bicker Over Budget 'Deal' as Shutdown Deadline Looms

AP

Shown here are House Speaker John Boehner, left, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Lawmakers vied for the political high ground Sunday, as they prepared to enter what could be the final stretch of this year's budget negotiations. 

With Washington careening toward a Friday deadline to either come up with a plan or face a partial government shutdown, Democrats and Republicans continued to bicker over whether there is or is not a compromise on the table. 

Aides to both parties confirmed to Fox News that policymakers are indeed working off a skeleton of a proposal that cuts $33 billion from last year's spending levels -- without such a starting figure, budget staff would be unable to write a bill. But lawmakers performed what amounts to a political dance in describing those negotiations, with Democrats sounding as if all that needs to be done is cross a few T's. 

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., repeated the claim Sunday that the two sides have "agreed on a number." 

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., also said lawmakers are working off a proposal to cut $33 billion from last year's levels. "I'm quite optimistic," he said. 

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, though, has said several times this past week that there is no deal until all the details are worked out. After President Obama called Boehner and Reid over the weekend, Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said the speaker "reminded the president that there is no 'deal' or agreement on a final number, and he will continue to push for the largest possible spending cuts." 

Boehner claims to be pushing for a package that more closely resembles the House-passed bill, which contained $61 billion in cuts. 

Both sides are trying to protect themselves politically in case talks fall through. A failure to draft a bill for the rest of the year means they would have to either craft another unpopular stopgap bill or face a partial shutdown. 

Right now, staffers are trying to whip up a budget proposal that achieves $33 billion in cuts. That number could rise, particularly if Democrats shoot down too many of the Republicans' policy riders -- which targeted organizations like Planned Parenthood for specific spending cuts. 

Some GOP lawmakers are urging the party to hold its ground while others have indicated a willingness to back off the $61 billion figure. 

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Sunday he'd "like to cut more" but that it's up to Reid to take the next step. 

Members of Congress nevertheless kept up the drumbeat of accusations, with the GOP accusing Senate Democrats of dropping the ball and Democrats accusing House Republicans of listening too much to the "extreme" Tea Party. Reid went so far as to call Republicans' House proposal "mean-spirited," saying it goes after "poor little children" by cutting funding to Head Start, an assistance program for low-income children. 

Both parties tried to use the latest jobs report to bolster their arguments. 

That report, released Friday, showed the unemployment rate dipping to 8.8 percent, with the economy adding 216,000 jobs -- nowhere near where the economy was before the recession, but a marked improvement over where it was just a few months ago. 

Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions said the job growth could be imperiled by failing to deal with the national debt. 

The debt "creates a threat of a crisis that could put us back into recession," Sessions said on ABC's This Week." "We have got to make changes now." 

But Schumer, speaking alongside Sessions, said the job gains show why lawmakers can't cut the budget too aggressively. 

"We have to deal with the deficit very seriously. But we also have to deal with the economy and job growth," Schumer said. "And we don't want to snuff that out." 

The ongoing debate over the fiscal 2011 budget is just a prelude to the debate over the 2012 budget proposal. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., chairman of the House Budget Committee, told "Fox News Sunday" that the GOP proposal, set to be unveiled Tuesday, would cut more than $4 trillion over the next decade, through spending caps and changes to entitlement programs. 

Democrats, in response, accused Republicans of protecting corporate interests at the expense of seniors, laying the groundwork for another bitter debate. 

But Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., suggested the course of the long-term struggle over the federal budget will be set now. 

"What we do on the rest of this year's budget will be a strong indicator of how willing and how serious we are about dealing with our debt problem," he told "Fox News Sunday." 

Rubio reiterated his pledge to vote against raising the debt ceiling unless it's "the last time we do it" and is accompanied by "meaningful reforms." 

Cornyn, speaking on CNN's "State of the Union," made a similar pledge. 

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., though, said, "it just frightens the heck out of me that anyone responsible would say, let's go ahead and light the fuse that might create the next economic meltdown." 

"You've got to believe cooler, saner heads will prevail on the debt limit as well," he said on the same program. 

Fox News' Trish Turner contributed to this report.

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Woman faces charges for alleged threats to kill Wisconsin lawmakers

Budget battles in the 'Bust Belt'STORY HIGHLIGHTSShe is accused of sending threatening e-mails to 16 Wisconsin state senatorsSome of the e-mails have threats to kill the senators and their families, authorities sayThe suspect was upset over the law to limit collective bargaining, authorities saySenator: "It's hard to know how serious some of this stuff is"Read more about this story from CNN affiliate WKOW.

(CNN) -- A Wisconsin woman, apparently enraged over the new state law that limits collective bargaining for government workers, is being accused of sending e-mails to 16 Republican state senators threatening to kill them.

Katherine Windels, 26, faces four counts of using a computer to threaten, injure, or harm and creating a bomb scare, authorities said.

A criminal complaint released by the Dane County District Attorney's Office alleges that the woman from Cross Plains, Wisconsin, admitted to the threats. She said she sent the e-mails because she was angry at lawmakers who voted to limit collective bargaining for about 300,000 state workers.

Windels, according to the complaint, used two separate e-mail accounts to send e-mails to the Republican state senators including one to Sen. Robert Cowles on March 9.

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