Showing posts with label Senate Democrats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Senate Democrats. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Democrats Push For Senate Probe Of Racist Terrorism In U.S. 

By S.A. Miller, June 30, 2015, The Washington Times 

Senate Democrats on Tuesday demanded a probe of racist domestic terrorism in response the the deadly shooting this month at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina.

“What we saw in South Carolina is about hate, and it is about evil. We must address the reality of domestic terrorism spurred by racial hatred head on,” six Democratic senators said in a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican.

The senators, led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Judiciary Committee ranking member Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, said the church shooting appeared to also fit the U.S. Code’s definition of a terrorist attack, which describes terrorism as a criminal act dangerous to human life that is intended to “intimidate or coerce a civilian population” or “to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction [or] assassination.”

More: www.washingtontimes.com

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Friday, May 22, 2015

Senate Democrats Demand More Money For Amtrak Repair Backlog 

Getty
By Joan Lowy, May 21, 2015, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats on Thursday demanded that Republicans provide more money for Amtrak so the railroad can tackle a $21 billion maintenance and repair backlog, including replacing tunnels more than a century old.

Democrats at a news conference cited last week's deadly crash in Philadelphia and said the backlog is compromising safety and service.

Investigators have said the crash could have been prevented if expensive safety technology called positive train control had been in operation. The technology can prevent derailments due to excessive speed and collisions between trains. Amtrak says the system will be ready by year's end throughout the Northeast Corridor, which stretches from Boston to Washington, with the exception of some track owned by commuter railroads in New York.

Democrats want Congress to give Amtrak the entire $2 billion in subsidies the railroad requested for the budget year that starts Oct. 1. They say GOP lawmakers have starved the railroad financially for years.

A Republican-controlled House panel approved a spending bill the day after the crash that provides Amtrak with $1.1 billion, a cut of $251 million from this year.

A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.


Read the full story:  www.usnews.com

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