| Menendez, Sires, NJ Latino Elected Leaders Endorse Lautenberg for Senate |
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| Saturday, 17 May 2008 | |
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PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT:
"I've worked closely with Senator Frank Lautenberg and have seen up close his dedication and commitment to the Latino community. Whether it is fighting for comprehensive immigration reform, immigrant rights, helping make health care and higher education more affordable, or helping small businesses grow, Senator Frank Lautenberg is an ally of the Latino community in New Jersey and across the country. It is vital we keep Frank Lautenberg in the United States Senate," said Sen. Menendez. "Frank Lautenberg has long been a friend to Latinos in our neighborhoods and across New Jersey. He stands strong for us when we need him on the issues that matter, like better access to education, affordable housing and stronger communities. Frank Lautenberg is my senator and I support him 100 percent," said Rep. Sires. "I am proud to stand today with Senator Menendez, Congressman Sires and these many distinguished leaders of the Latino community in New Jersey. We are all descendants of immigrants, we all share a love for our country and a commitment to all of the opportunities and freedoms that it offers. We also share a dedication to individual rights, a commitment to education, to making health care and a college education more affordable, to making our economy work for every American family, to giving all immigrants the rights they deserve, and to ending the war in Iraq and bringing our troops home safely and soon," said Sen. Lautenberg. The following is a list of Latino elected officials that are supporting Sen. Frank Lautenberg for re-election: 1. U.S. Senator Bob Menendez Senator Lautenberg has been a champion of issues important to communities all across New Jersey, including: Civil Rights * Cosponsored the legislation, signed into law on May 8, 2008, creating a Commission to study the potential creation of the National Museum of the American Latino. * Cosponsored the Civil Rights Act of 2008, which would improve accountability when civil rights and workers' rights are violated. Voting Rights * Sen. Lautenberg cosponsored the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act, which became law in 2006. * Sen. Lautenberg voted against a 2007 McConnell amendment that would have required voters to present government-issued photo ID before voting. * Voted for legislation to grant full voting rights in the U.S. House of Representatives to residents of the District of Columbia. Immigration * Sen. Lautenberg has been a consistent supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. Voted to invoke cloture on the comprehensive immigration reform bill in June 2007. * Voted for amendments to the comprehensive immigration reform bill to preserve family unification as a bedrock principle of the U.S. immigration system. * Voted for the DREAM Act, which would give a select group of students who are undocumented immigrants the chance to become permanent residents if they came to this country as children, have been in the U.S. continuously for at least five years, have good moral character, graduate from high school, and enlist in the military or attend college for at least two years. * Has voted against amendments that would increase local law enforcement's role in enforcing federal immigration laws because such measures could lead to racial profiling and to crime victims and witnesses failing to come forward. * Voted against building a 370-mile fence along the U.S.-Mexico border.
* Sen. Lautenberg cosponsored, with Sen. Menendez, legislation to provide grants for innovative approaches to gang prevention and increase funds for mentoring programs for youth involved in the juvenile justice system. This legislation passed the Senate last fall as part of the "Gang Abatement and Prevention Act," which Sen. Lautenberg also cosponsored. * Worked in Appropriations Committee to restore over $48 million in funding for mentoring programs that the Bush Administration proposed to eliminate. * Worked in Appropriations Committee to increase by $100 million for after school programs, which provide a safe and educational place for children to go while their parents are at work.
* Sen. Lautenberg has been a steadfast advocate of the COPS program, which has added nearly 5,000 police officers and sheriffs to New Jersey's streets and sent more than $350 million to New Jersey. He cosponsored and voted for the successful Biden amendment that increased COPS funding by $1.2 billion for FY 2008 and has used his position on the Appropriations Committee to fight the Bush Administration's attempts to cut this program. * Cosponsored and voted for legislation to expand current hate crimes prevention laws and allow the federal government to assist local law enforcement in investigating and prosecuting hate crimes. Gun Violence Prevention * Sen. Lautenberg is the author of the bill to close the "gun show loophole," which allows people to buy guns from unlicensed dealers at gun shows without going through a background check. Sen. Lautenberg's bill would require background checks for all guns sold at gun shows. * Sen. Lautenberg has authored a bill that would require the FBI to keep gun background check records for 180 days. Under current law, these records must be destroyed within 24 hours, which leaves the FBI with no way to retrieve guns from people who are able to buy guns in violation of the law. * After Senator Lautenberg exposed that the Bush Administration was blocking law enforcement from retrieving data about gun purchases by people on the terrorist watch list, the Department of Justice changed its policies, and now provides information to law enforcement when suspected terrorists purchase weapons. In 2007, at Senator Lautenberg's urging, the Administration endorsed Lautenberg's proposal to restrict gun sales to suspected terrorists. * Has fought to overturn the "Tiahrt Amendment" and make more information on crime guns available to local law enforcement. Small Business * As a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee that handles appropriations for the Small Business Administration, Sen. Lautenberg fought for a large increase of funding for the SBA in FY 2008. Congress secured $569 million, a 22 percent increase over President Bush's request, resulting in more loans and more services available to small businesses.
* Sen. Lautenberg was a cosponsor of and voted for the legislation that raised the minimum wage in 2007 for the first time since 1996. This law increases the minimum wage by $2.10 an hour over two years to $7.25 an hour. * Sen. Lautenberg cosponsored, spoke on the Senate floor in support of, and voted for the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it easier for workers to join a union without employer coercion or intimidation. * Has cosponsored and voted for the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, which would overturn the Supreme Court's decision in the Ledbetter case that limited workers' ability to sue their employers for pay discrimination. * Is a cosponsor of two measures to expand unemployment benefits-the Unemployment Insurance Modernization Act and the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2008.
* Introduced the Diabetes Prevention Access and Care Act which increases funding for diabetes research, prevention, and education in minority communities. * Supported expanding the Children's Health Insurance Program which provides health care to more than 125,000 low-income children, including more than 22,000 Latino and African-American children. * Defeated an amendment to the Children's Health Insurance Program reauthorization that would have eliminated health care coverage for 3,200 children in New Jersey. * Introduced a bill that would provide a temporary increase in Medicaid funding for states during this economic crisis. * Co-sponsored the Minority Health Improvement and Health Disparity Elimination Act, which would increase research funding for diseases that disproportionately affect minorities. * Voted for final passage of legislation funding the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education for Fiscal Year 2008. The Senate bill would have funded these agencies at $9.6 billion more than the President's budget request.
* Co-sponsored the HOPE VI reauthorization program that encourages redevelopment of old public housing into affordable housing for working-and middle-class residents. * Supported the Foreclosure Prevention Act, which was an important first step in helping to stabilize the housing market and provide housing counseling assistance to homeowners. * Cosponsored the Home Ownership Preservation and Protection Act which ends predatory lending practices that tricked many homeowners into getting mortgages they could not afford.
* Strongly supported the reauthorization of the Head Start program signed into law in December that assists 279,000 low-income Latino and African American children. Making Higher Education More Affordable * Co-sponsored and voted for the College Opportunity Act that is now law, which increases Pell Grants and lowers interest rates to increase affordability to college. * Has cosponsored legislation to forgive loans for public defenders and prosecutors and voted against an attempt to strike a loan forgiveness program for public sector workers. Opposed Anti-Civil Rights Judicial and Executive Nominations * Voted against the Supreme Court nominations of John Roberts and Samuel Alito. * Voted against the confirmation of Leslie Southwick to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Southwick had a history of decisions while a state court judge that failed to recognize workers' and civil rights. * Voted against the confirmation of Michael B. Mukasey to serve as Attorney General of the United States because of Mukasey's failure to condemn certain torture techniques and the Bush Administration's abuses of executive powers.
* Cosponsored the Environmental Justice Renewal Act. The bill would direct the EPA to head a Working Group to provide guidance to federal agencies to identify disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental impacts on minority and low-income populations and to help the agencies develop environmental justice strategies. It also requires the Working Group to develop a coordinated interagency federal environmental justice strategy. * Cosponsored the Environmental Justice Enforcement Act of 2008. The bill amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include in the definition of discrimination actions that cause a disparate impact on low-income or minority communities.
* Voted in the Senate Commerce Committee for a bill that would have required the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to address media localism and diversity issues before changing the media ownership rules. * Voted in the Commerce Committee for a resolution disapproving of the FCC's recent media ownership rule change that would make it easier for one company to own both a newspaper and a broadcast station in the same market.
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