Tentative farm workers deal in immigration talks

WASHINGTON (AP) — A tentative deal has been reached between agriculture workers and growers, a key senator said Tuesday, smoothing the way for a landmark immigration bill to be released within a week.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who's taken the lead on negotiating a resolution to the agriculture issue, didn't provide details, and said growers had yet to sign off on the agreement. The farm workers union has been at odds with the agriculture industry over worker wages and how many visas should be offered in a new program to bring agriculture workers to the U.S.

But Feinstein said she's hoping for resolution in the next day or two.

"There's a tentative agreement on a number of things, and we're waiting to see if it can get wrapped up," Feinstein said in a brief interview at the Capitol.

"I'm very hopeful. The train is leaving the station. We need a bill."

The development comes as a bipartisan group of senators hurries to finish legislation aimed at securing the border and putting 11 million immigrants here illegally on a path to citizenship, while also allowing tens of thousands of high- and low-skilled foreign workers into the U.S. on new visa programs. The agriculture dispute was the most prominent of a handful of unresolved issues. There's also still some debate over plans to boost visas for high-tech workers.

The group of four Republican and four Democratic senators has been hoping to release the landmark immigration bill this week, possibly as early as Thursday. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a leader of the group, said Tuesday that this week remains the goal. But it also looked possible it could slip into next week.

Senators in the immigration group met Tuesday with Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who agreed to hold a hearing April 17 on the legislation, Senate aides said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the deliberations were confidential.

That's something Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has been calling for in response to pressure from conservatives who argue the bill is being pushed too fast without enough time for debate. Given Judiciary Committee procedures that allow Republicans to push for extra time to review legislation, the committee could begin to vote on and amend the bill the week of May 6, an aide said.

"The Judiciary Committee must have plenty of time to debate and improve the bipartisan group's proposal, so it's good that senators and the public will have weeks to study this proposal," Rubio spokesman Alex Conant said.

At least 50 percent and as much as 70 percent or 80 percent of the nation's approximately 2 million farm workers are here illegally, according to labor and industry estimates. Growers say they need a better way to hire labor legally, and advocates say workers can be exploited and need better protections and a way to earn permanent residence.

Senators plan to offer a speeded-up pathway to citizenship to farm workers already in the country illegally who've worked in the industry for at least two years. In addition they're seeking to create a new visa program to bring foreign agriculture workers to the U.S. But wages and visa caps have been sticking points, just as they were for a separate low-skilled worker program that was resolved recently with a deal between the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO.

After negotiations between the United Farm Workers and agriculture interests, including the Western Growers Association, stalled in recent weeks, the four senators working on the issue — Feinstein, Rubio, Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah — developed a framework that would ultimately call for the agriculture secretary to set visa levels and wages, according to officials involved in the talks.

But the uncertainty of that structure sparked concern on both sides, and talks between growers and agriculture reopened. There now have been numbers set for wages and where to cap visa levels that the United Farm Workers has agreed to, officials said, although details weren't immediately available Tuesday. But growers emphasized they had yet to sign off.

"We are working diligently on the final details on the important details of the wage and cap and are hopeful, but have not agreed to anything," said Kristi Boswell, director of congressional relations for the American Farm Bureau Federation.

Even in absence of a formal OK from the growers side, Feinstein suggested that the senators were satisfied and would be moving forward with what they've settled on.

"We hope we can get their acquiescence and support, otherwise we just need to proceed ahead," she said.

Meanwhile there were indications that the immigration debate, largely confined to behind-the-scenes negotiations so far, was moving into a more public phase.

Pro-immigrant groups planned rallies around the country and outside the Capitol for Wednesday.

And there was back-and-forth among GOP-leaning groups over the expected cost of a bill, with a conservative think tank, the American Action Forum, releasing a report Tuesday arguing that immigration reform would grow the economy and reduce the deficit, partly because of growth in the labor force. That stood in contrast to a report by the Heritage Foundation released during the last immigration debate in 2007, and expected to be revived again this year, that contended the legislation cost taxpayers $2.6 trillion.

The dispute was more evidence of a split in the GOP, with some favoring comprehensive immigration legislation, and others still strongly opposed.

___

Follow Erica Werner on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ericawerner

View the original article here

FBI investigating recording of McConnell talks

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Campaign aides to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell proposed using actress Ashley Judd's past bouts with depression against her if she had decided to challenge him in his re-election bid next year, according to a secret recording posted by a magazine.

Mother Jones released a recording Tuesday along with an article about a private meeting in which the aides discussed opposition research into potential Democratic challengers. Aides talked and laughed on the recording about Judd's political positions, religious beliefs and past bouts of depression.

The FBI is looking into how the recording was made after the McConnell campaign accused opponents of engaging in "Watergate-era tactics." The magazine reported that the recording was provided last week by a source who requested anonymity.

"She's clearly — this sounds extreme — but she is emotionally unbalanced," a McConnell aide said of Judd during a February meeting at the Louisville campaign headquarters. "I mean it's been documented ... she's suffered some suicidal tendencies. She was hospitalized for 42 days when she had a mental breakdown in the '90s."

Judd spokeswoman Cara Tripicchio criticized the McConnell campaign for considering making depression a campaign issue.

"This is yet another example of the politics of personal destruction that embody Mitch McConnell and are pervasive in Washington DC," Tripicchio said in a statement. "We expected nothing less from Mitch McConnell and his camp than to take a personal struggle such as depression, which many Americans cope with on a daily basis, and turn it into a laughing matter."

Judd has been open about her bouts with depression. She spoke to the American Counseling Association's national convention in Cincinnati in March, telling more than 3,000 counselors from across the country about her experiences.

McConnell was asked several times at a news conference Tuesday about the propriety of attacking Judd over depression. He did not directly answer, but repeatedly brought up an incident last month, when Progress Kentucky tweeted an insensitive remark about his wife, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao.

"As you know, my wife's ethnicity was attacked by a left-wing group in Kentucky and apparently they also bugged my headquarters," he said. "So I think that pretty well sums up the way the political left is operating in Kentucky."

The McConnell campaign asked the FBI to look into whether the Louisville office was bugged.

"I can confirm that Sen. McConnell's office did contact us and we are looking into the matter," FBI spokeswoman Mary Trotman said.

McConnell campaign manager Jesse Benton alleged in an email to supporters that "liberals and their media allies" were "wire-tapping our field office to spy on us." Benton used the issue as a fundraising appeal, asking supporters to send donations "to help us spread the truth."

"We've always said the left would stop at nothing to attack Senator McConnell, but Watergate-style tactics to bug campaign headquarters are above and beyond," Benton said in a statement.

On the recording posted on Mother Jones' website, McConnell began the meeting by telling aides the campaign had entered "the Whac-A-Mole period" and explained that means "when anybody sticks their head up, do them out."

The magazine reported the aides huddled on Feb. 2 in a private meeting to discuss potential Democratic opponents, including Judd and Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes. Grimes, a rising star within the Kentucky Democratic Party, hasn't ruled herself out as a challenger.

An unidentified aide said Judd had made a public statement as a Tennessee delegate to the national convention about her support of President Barack Obama, an unpopular political figure in Kentucky. The aide said that statement could be used against her. He also said the statement raised another issue: that Judd is a resident of Tennessee, not Kentucky.

In another instance, the aide played a recording of Judd talking about her religious beliefs: "I still choose the God of my understanding as the God of my childhood. I have to expand my God concept from time to time, and you know particularly I enjoy native faith practices, and have a very nature-based God concept. I'd like to think I'm like St. Francis in that way. Brother Donkey, Sister Bird."

The campaign aides then laugh loudly.

An unidentified man then says "the people at Southeast Christian would take to the streets with pitchforks," referring to an evangelical megachurch in Louisville.

In the discussion of Grimes, the aide said she had endorsed Obama.

"She was too smart to use his name in a sentence," the aide said. "But she says, 'my support of our party and our nominee is well known, and it's no secret I'll be in North Carolina to support our nominee and the party.'"

The aide charged that Grimes has "a very sort of self-centered, sort of egotistical aspect" and that "she'll frequently use herself in the third person."

Grimes was unavailable for comment, a spokeswoman said.

It wasn't the first time that Mother Jones has written about recordings from private meetings.

The magazine was the first to report about Republican Mitt Romney's comments to donors paying $50,000 apiece to attend a private reception that 47 percent of Americans are dependent on government, see themselves as victims and believe the government has a responsibility to care for them.

Romney's critics used the video to argue that he was out of touch with average Americans during the last presidential campaign.

Kentucky Democratic Party Chairman Dan Logsdon said the recording is telling about McConnell.

"I certainly do not know anything about how this may have happened," Logsdon said. "However, it's clear that this is the McConnell we all know: leading a negative, nasty campaign determined to lash out at his opponents since he doesn't have any accomplishments to point to."

___

Associated Press writers Jim Abrams and Donna Cassata in Washington and Brett Barrouquere in Louisville contributed to this report.

View the original article here

AJC Urges U.S., World Powers: Tell Iran It Cannot Try to Run Out the Clock by Endless Talks

NEW YORK, April 6, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC urged the P5+1 -- the five UN Security Council permanent members and Germany -- to make clear to Iran that it cannot drag out negotiations endlessly, while simultaneously pushing ahead with its nuclear program. The latest round of talks in Almaty ended today in stalemate.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100816/AJCLOGO )

"The P5+1 have tried innumerable ways, including all-important direct negotiations, to stop Iran's drive for nuclear-weapons capability. Iran has consistently frustrated these overtures," said AJC Executive Director David Harris. "The disappointing, but not surprising, outcome of the Almaty talks on Iran's nuclear program further underscores the need to convince Iran that trying to run out the clock won't work."

In advance of the Almaty talks, Iran indicated it would present a new proposal to resolve the issue of its controversial nuclear program. But Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief who has led the negotiations with Tehran, said after this round of talks that the sides "remain far apart on the substance."

The Almaty negotiations was a follow-up round to the meetings in the Kazakhstan capital in February, and of technical experts in Istanbul last month.

Among those world leaders most suspicious of Iran's intentions is IAEA Director Yukiya Amano, who told the Associated Press days before the Almaty talks of his concerns. "We have information indicating that Iran is engaged in activities relevant to the development of nuclear explosive devices, and continues to deal with that," said Amano.

Moreover, President Barack Obama reiterated last month during his Middle East visit that "all options are on the table" to stop Iran from achieving nuclear-weapons capability.

"With no date set for another round of talks, and Iran advancing its nuclear program, the U.S., together with the other five powers, must consider what additional concrete actions are necessary to underscore their resolve, and to convince the Iranian regime of the dire consequences of continued non-cooperation," said Harris.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee

View the original article here