The Crypt March 26th, 2007

Kucinich's Personal Explanation Plus

When members miss House votes, they often place "personal explanations" into the Congressional Record spelling out their absences. The explanations are normally pretty banal -- a family illness, stuck in a committee hearing, traveling, unavoidably detained and on and on.

But not so with Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio). The Democratic presidential candidate offered this personal explanation the other day, showing that he wants to play on a slightly higher level than most of the rank and file:

"Madam Speaker," he said, "I was not present for votes on Monday, March 19, and Tuesday, March 20, 2007, because I was meeting with British members of Parliament in an effort to build an international coalition to end the Iraq war."

It is so nice to be somebody.

Giving Conservatives a Headache

Just a friendly warning. If you're a conservative who gets worked up about (a) illegal immigrants or (b) gay people, you may not want to read on.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) will soon be offering legislation called the "Uniting American Families Act," or the "Permanent Partners Immigration Act." If enacted, the bill would allow gay Americans to sponsor their foreign partners for U.S. citizenship.

"One of the fundamental principles of immigration law and policy is the notion of family unification, which allows U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents to sponsor their spouses (and other family members) for immigration purposes," Nadler wrote in a "Dear Colleague" letter circulated Monday.

Nadler is seeking co-sponsors for his bill, which was introduced in both the 108th and 109th Congresses.

"Unfortunately, same-sex couples committed to spending their lives together are not recognized as 'families' under current federal law, including the U.S. immigration law. Because of this unjust and inhumane policy, thousands of lesbian and gay bi-national couples are kept apart, and too many American citizens are forced to live in exile, or in fear that their undocumented foreign partners will be torn away from them through deportation," Nadler said.

"The UAFA will apply the same standards to same-sex couples that the U.S. applies to opposite-sex couples seeking to bring a foreign partner into the country," he went on. "As with current immigration laws for married couples, the Uniting American Families Act would impose harsh penalties for fraud, including up to five years in prison and as much as $250,000 in fines. In addition, if the partnership is dissolved in less than two years, the legal immigrant status of the partner would be revoked."

I can already hear the screams from the offices of the National Review.