Cesar Chavez resolution waylaid
Source: Politico
What could have been a simple move in the Senate to honor the late labor activist Cesar Chavez got tangled up in a partisan dispute — over immigration.
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) tried Monday evening to get unanimous consent for a resolution honoring the co-founder of what is now the United Farm Workers labor union. But Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) promptly blocked the request, asking to add language to the symbolic measure stressing that Chavez had advocated for tougher border security and for enforcing immigration laws to reduce the “deleterious” effects of undocumented workers on those who are legally here.
That push, which Sessions said comes from language requested by fellow conservative Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), drew immediate rebuke from frustrated Democrats, who noted that this is the eighth consecutive year that a resolution honoring Chavez has been blocked in the Senate.
“It’s really shameful that we can pass, you know, commemorative resolutions on some of the most insignificant things,” Menendez said Monday.
“But on the life of someone who changed the course of this country for millions of Latinos who understand that life and history and would want to see that life commemorated, that there can be a continuing objections [for] eight years.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/03/cesar-chavez-resolution-waylaid-immigration-senate-105232.html?hp=r6
Of course...
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