A New Foundation for Energy and the Environment

"As we continue to tackle our environmental challenges, it’s clear that change won’t come from Washington alone. It will come from Americans across the country who take steps in their own homes and their own communities to make that change happen."

-President Barack Obama

Going Green

This Earth Day, join Americans across the country who are helping to protect our air, water and planet for future generations by making just a few small changes in your day-to-day life.

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President Obama is calling on all Americans to help make their communities greener and healthier this Earth Day. Sign up to attend an Earth Day service project in your area.

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The Obama administration is committed to building a clean energy economy and keeping our air, water and planet clean for future generations. Learn more about what we’re doing to help protect our environment and reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil.

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What are you doing to help protect our environment and keep your community healthy? Whether you’re cleaning up a local park, weatherizing your home, or riding your bike to work, tell us what you’re doing to go green.

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Obama extends hospital visitation rights to same-sex partners of gays
By Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 16, 2010; A01

Video

Same-sex partners get hospital rights

President Obama signed a directive that gives same-sex couples hospital visitation rights after learning of the tragic case of one couple.

President Obama mandated Thursday that nearly all hospitals extend visitation rights to the partners of gay men and lesbians and respect patients' choices about who may make critical health-care decisions for them, perhaps the most significant step so far in his efforts to expand the rights of gay Americans.

The president directed the Department of Health and Human Services to prohibit discrimination in hospital visitation in a memo that was e-mailed to reporters Thursday night while he was at a fundraiser in Miami.

Administration officials and gay activists, who have been quietly working together on the issue, said the new rule will affect any hospital that receives Medicare or Medicaid funding, a move that covers the vast majority of the nation's health-care institutions. Obama's order will start a rule-making process at HHS that could take several months, officials said.

Hospitals often bar visitors who are not related to an incapacitated patient by blood or marriage, and gay rights activists say many do not respect same-sex couples' efforts to designate a partner to make medical decisions for them if they are seriously ill or injured.

"Discrimination touches every facet of the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, including at times of crisis and illness, when we need our loved ones with us more than ever," Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement praising the president's decision.

Obama's mandate is the latest attempt by his administration to advance the agenda of a constituency that strongly supported his presidential campaign.

In his first 15 months in office, he has hailed the passage of hate crime legislation and held the first Gay Pride Day celebration at the White House. Last month, Obama's top military and defense officials testified before Congress in favor of repealing of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy for gays in the armed forces.

But the moves have been too slow for some gay rights activists, who have urged the president to be more vocal and active in championing their causes. John Aravosis, a prominent gay blogger, wrote last October that Obama's "track record on keeping his gay promises has been fairly abominable."

Other gay rights activists have defended the administration, while at the same time pushing Congress to act on broader issues such as passage of an employment non-discrimination act and an end to the ban on gays serving openly in the military.

"We see this as part of our ongoing effort to encourage the administration to take action where it has the authority to act," said David Smith, a Human Rights Campaign spokesman. "We've been working and pressing the administration on our legislative agenda. That work continues."

Gay activists have argued for years that recognizing same-sex marriage would ease the stress associated with not being able to visit hospitalized partners.

But opponents of same-sex marriage have called the visitation issue a red herring, arguing that advocates want to provide special rights for gays that other Americans do not have. A spokesman for one group said the president's move was part of a broader effort to appease gays and to undermine the institution of marriage.

"In its current political context, President Obama's memorandum clearly constitutes pandering to a radical special interest group," said Peter S. Sprigg, a senior fellow for policy studies at the Family Research Council. He said that his organization does not object to gays giving their partners power of attorney but that it questions Obama's motives.

"The memorandum undermines the definition of marriage," he said.

Obama's memo to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius orders the development of new rules to ensure that hospitals "respect the rights of patients to designate visitors" and to choose the people who will make medical decisions on their behalf.

The action has the potential to increase conflicts between family members, same-sex partners and hospital staff over end-of-life decisions.

A spokesman for the American Hospital Association did not return calls and e-mails. Efforts to reach a spokesman for the Catholic Health Association of the United States were unsuccessful.

In the memo, Obama said hospitals should not be able to deny visitation privileges on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

"Every day, all across America, patients are denied the kindnesses and caring of a loved one at their sides whether in a sudden medical emergency or a prolonged hospital stay," he wrote.

Affected, he said, are "gay and lesbian Americans who are often barred from the bedsides of the partners with whom they may have spent decades of their lives -- unable to be there for the person they love, and unable to act as a legal surrogate if their partner is incapacitated."

“There are few moments in our lives that call for greater compassion and companionship than when a loved one is admitted to the hospital,” Obama wrote in the memo to HHS. “In these hours of need and moments of pain and anxiety, all of us would hope to have a hand to hold, a shoulder on which to lean — a loved one to be there for us, as we would be there for them”:

Often, a widow or widower with no children is denied the support and comfort of a good friend. Members of religious orders are sometimes unable to choose someone other than an immediate family member to visit them and make medical decisions on their behalf. Also uniquely affected are gay and lesbian Americans who are often barred from the bedsides of the partners with whom they may have spent decades of their lives — unable to be there for the person they love, and unable to act as a legal surrogate if their partner is incapacitated.
For all of these Americans, the failure to have their wishes respected concerning who may visit them or make medical decisions on their behalf has real [c]onsequences. It means that doctors and nurses do not always have the best information about patients’ medications and medical histories and that friends and certain family members are unable to serve as intermediaries to help communicate patients’ needs. It means that a stressful and at times terrifying experience for patients is senselessly compounded by indignity and unfairness. And it means that all too often, people are made to suffer or even to pass away alone, denied the comfort of companionship in their final moments while a loved one is left worrying and pacing down the hall.

Officials said Obama had been moved by the story of a lesbian couple in Florida, Janice Langbehn and Lisa Pond, who were kept apart when Pond collapsed of a cerebral aneurysm in February 2007, dying hours later at a hospital without her partner and children by her side.

Obama called Langbehn on Thursday evening from Air Force One as he flew to Miami, White House officials said. In an interview, Langbehn praised the president for his actions.

"I kept saying it's not a gay right to hold someone's hand when they die, its a human right," she said, noting that she and Pond had been partners for almost 18 years. "Now to have the president call up and say he agrees with me, it's pretty amazing, and very humbling."

The new rules will not apply only to gays. They also will affect widows and widowers who have been unable to receive visits from a friend or companion. And they would allow members of some religious orders to designate someone other than a family member to make medical decisions.

But it is clear that the document focuses on gays. A number of areas remain in which federal law requires proof of marriage, including receiving Social Security benefits and in taxes.

"The General Accounting Office has identified 1,138 instances in federal law where marriage is important," said one gay rights activist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity before the White House formally announced the directive. "We've knocked off one of them."

Presidential Proclamation -- Earth Day

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

April 21, 2010

A PROCLAMATION

In the fall of 1969, Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson announced plans for a national "environmental teach-in" -- one day, each year, of action and advocacy for the environment. His words rallied our Nation, and the first Earth Day, as it became known, saw millions come together to meet one of the greatest challenges of our times: caring for our planet. What Senator Nelson and the other organizers believed then, and what we still believe today, is that our environment is a blessing we share. Our future is inextricably bound to our planet's future, and we must be good stewards of our home as well as one another.
On the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, we come together to reaffirm those beliefs. We have come far in these past four decades. One year before the first Earth Day, our Nation watched in horror as the polluted and debris-choked Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio, caught fire. In response, a generation of Americans stepped forward to demand progress. What Americans achieved in the decades that followed has made  our children healthier, our water and air cleaner, and our planet more livable.
We passed the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, established the Environmental Protection Agency, and safeguarded treasured American landscapes. Americans across our country have witnessed the impact of these measures, including the people of Cleveland, where the Cuyahoga River is cleaner than it has been in a century.
We continue to build on this progress today. My Administration has invested in clean energy and clean water infrastructure across the country. We are also committed to passing comprehensive energy and climate legislation that will create jobs, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and cut carbon pollution.
We have more work to do, however, and change will not come from Washington alone. The achievements of the past were possible because ordinary Americans demanded them, and meeting today's environmental challenges will require a new generation to carry on Earth Day's cause. From weatherizing our homes to planting trees in our communities, there are countless ways for every American, young and old, to get involved. I encourage all Americans to visit WhiteHouse.gov/EarthDay for information and resources to get started.
The 40th anniversary of Earth Day is an opportunity for us to reflect on the legacy we have inherited from previous generations, and the legacy that we will bestow upon generations to come. Their future depends on the action we take now, and we must not fail them. Forty years from today, when our children and grandchildren look back on what we did at this moment, let them say that we, too, met the challenges of our time and passed on a cleaner, healthier planet.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 22, 2010, as Earth Day. I encourage all Americans to participate in programs and activities that will protect our environment and contribute to a healthy, sustainable future.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-first day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand ten, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth.
BARACK OBAMA

Statement by President Obama on the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

April 22, 2010

In 1970, a Senator from Wisconsin named Gaylord Nelson raised his voice and called on every American to take action on behalf of the environment. In the four decades since, millions of Americans have heeded that call and joined together to protect the planet we share.
Since that first Earth Day 40 years ago, we have made immense progress – from the landmark legislation of the 1970s, the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, to the conservation of America’s precious landscapes.
And since taking office, my Administration has worked to build on this progress. We have made a historic investment in clean energy that will not only create the jobs of tomorrow, but will also lay the foundation for long-term economic growth.  And we have also renewed our commitment to passing comprehensive energy and climate legislation that will safeguard our planet, spur innovation and allow us to compete and win in the 21st century economy.
Earth Day has always been about people from different backgrounds and different walks of life coming together on behalf of a cause bigger than ourselves. And with that spirit of community, we must continue the hard work to make the dream of a clean energy economy a reality, and pass this world on to our children cleaner and safer than we found it.

The President Speaks to Wall Street, Republicans, and All of America

Posted by Jesse Lee on April 22, 2010 at 1:23 PM EDT

Ed. Note: Austan Goolsbee of the Council of Economic Advisers will take your questions following up on the President's speech in a live video discussion Friday at 2:00PM EDT.  Watch at WhiteHouse.gov/live or join the conversation via UStream.
At noon today the President spoke to an audience that included many from the financial sector at Cooper Union in New York City, a place where he spoke about reforming Wall Street and financial institutions two years ago:

As I said on this stage two years ago, I believe in the power of the free market.  I believe in a strong financial sector that helps people to raise capital and get loans and invest their savings.  That’s part of what has made America what it is.  But a free market was never meant to be a free license to take whatever you can get, however you can get it.  That’s what happened too often in the years leading up to this crisis.  Some -- and let me be clear, not all -- but some on Wall Street forgot that behind every dollar traded or leveraged there’s family looking to buy a house, or pay for an education, open a business, save for retirement.  What happens on Wall Street has real consequences across the country, across our economy.

The President applauded the House for having passed reforms, and the Senate for working through their own version, despite “the furious effort of industry lobbyists to shape this legislation to their special interests.”  He then spoke directly to those in the audience and the area who might be paying those lobbyists:

And for those of you in the financial sector I'm sure that some of these lobbyists work for you and they’re doing what they are being paid to do.  But I’m here today specifically -- when I speak to the titans of industry here -- because I want to urge you to join us, instead of fighting us in this effort.  (Applause.)  I’m here because I believe that these reforms are, in the end, not only in the best interest of our country, but in the best interest of the financial sector.  And I’m here to explain what reform will look like, and why it matters.

The President focused on four key elements of reform:

Now, first, the bill being considered in the Senate would create what we did not have before, and that is a way to protect the financial system and the broader economy and American taxpayers in the event that a large financial firm begins to fail.  If there’s a Lehmans or an AIG, how can we respond in a way that doesn’t force taxpayers to pick up the tab or, alternatively, could bring down the whole system.

He acknowledged that there might be legitimate debate about the best way to approach that issue, but made clear that he had no patience for those making the false claim that somehow reform would lead to more bailouts: “In other words, a vote for reform is a vote to put a stop to taxpayer-funded bailouts.  That’s the truth.  End of story.  And nobody should be fooled in this debate.”  He then moved on to the second component:

Number two, reform would bring new transparency to many financial markets.  As you know, part of what led to this crisis was firms like AIG and others who were making huge and risky bets, using derivatives and other complicated financial instruments, in ways that defied accountability, or even common sense.  In fact, many practices were so opaque, so confusing, so complex that the people inside the firms didn’t understand them,  much less those who were charged with overseeing them.  They weren’t fully aware of the massive bets that were being placed.  That’s what led Warren Buffett to describe derivatives that were bought and sold with little oversight as “financial weapons of mass destruction.”  That’s what he called them.  And that’s why reform will rein in excess and help ensure that these kinds of transactions take place in the light of day.

The President applauded the Republican Senator who crossed the aisle to support Democratic efforts on reining in derivatives, and moved on to the third major priority in reform:

Third, this plan would enact the strongest consumer financial protections ever.  (Applause.) And that's absolutely necessary because this financial crisis wasn’t just the result of decisions made in the executive suites on Wall Street; it was also the result of decisions made around kitchen tables across America, by folks who took on mortgages and credit cards and auto loans.  And while it’s true that many Americans took on financial obligations that they knew or should have known they could not have afforded, millions of others were, frankly, duped.  They were misled by deceptive terms and conditions, buried deep in the fine print.

Speaking on the fourth and final main component, the President addressed one of the biggest sources of anger across the country over the past years:

Number four, the last key component of reform.  These Wall Street reforms will give shareholders new power in the financial system.  They will get what we call a say on pay, a voice with respect to the salaries and bonuses awarded to top executives.  And the SEC will have the authority to give shareholders more say in corporate elections, so that investors and pension holders have a stronger role in determining who manages the company in which they’ve placed their savings.
Now, Americans don’t begrudge anybody for success when that success is earned.  But when we read in the past, and sometimes in the present, about enormous executive bonuses at firms -- even as they’re relying on assistance from taxpayers or they’re taking huge risks that threaten the system as a whole or their company is doing badly -- it offends our fundamental values.
Not only that, some of the salaries and bonuses that we’ve seen creates perverse incentives to take reckless risks that contributed to the crisis.  It’s what helped lead to a relentless focus on a company’s next quarter, to the detriment of its next year or its next decade.  And it led to a situation in which folks with the most to lose -- stock and pension holders -- had the least to say in the process.  And that has to change.  (Applause.)

The President urged the audience to recognize that there are legitimate issues at hand, even if all parties will not always agree on everything, and to join him in supporting commonsense reforms.

The New Health Care Law and You

Source: AARP Bulletin Today | Updated April 23, 2010

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Calling the Department of Health and Human Services “a health insurance reform Help Desk,” HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius pledged that department officials would help consumers understand the reforms under the newly enacted law. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

Health Care Reform: What’s at Stake for Hispanics?/ Reforma del sistema de salud: ¿Qué esta en juego para los hispanos? AARP Segunda Juventud >>

BREAKING NEWS

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, right, tours a hospital in Cincinnati with the hospital’s senior vice president Uma Kotagal to discuss health care reform implementation and efforts to improve health care quality, April 2010. Photo by Carrie Cochran/The Cincinnati Enquirer/AP Photo

Health Care Reform Explained: Your Questions Answered
Need help understanding the new health care reforms? You’re not alone. The legislation is more than 2,000 pages and it’s crammed with new benefits, rules, penalties and projects, spread out over years. To help you find out just what it all means to you, AARP will be answering your questions about health care reform online. More >>
A Quick Guide to the New Law for People Age 50-plus
Now that the overhaul is the law of the land, you’re probably wondering what the reforms will mean to you and your family. Here is a simple guide. More >>





Health Care Reform Info Graphics Archive

FROM AARP

• Protect Against Health Care Fraud (PDF)

• How the New Law Benefits You (PDF)

• Helping You Pay for Long-Term Care (PDF)

• Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit & Closing the Doughnut Hole (PDF)

• Key Improvements to Health Insurance Practices (PDF)
 

Vice President Biden Kicks Off Five Days of Earth Day Activities with Announcement of Major New Energy Efficiency Effort

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

April 21, 2010

25 Communities Selected for Recovery Act “Retrofit Ramp-Up” Awards

Washington, D.C. - Vice President Biden will today kick off five days of Administration events around the 40th anniversary of Earth Day with the announcement of the selection of 25 communities for up to $452 million in Recovery Act funding to “ramp-up” energy efficiency building retrofits.  Under the Department of Energy’s Retrofit Ramp-Up initiative, communities, governments, private sector companies and non-profit organizations will work together on pioneering and innovative programs for concentrated and broad-based retrofits of neighborhoods and towns – and eventually entire states.  These partnerships will support large-scale retrofits and make energy efficiency accessible to hundreds of thousands of homeowners and businesses.  The models created through this program are expected to save households and businesses about a $100 million annually in utility bills, while leveraging private sector resources, to create what funding recipients estimate at about 30,000 jobs across the country during the next three years.
"For forty years, Earth Day has focused on transforming the way we use energy and reducing our dependence on fossil fuel - but this year, because of the historic clean energy investments in the Recovery Act, we're poised to make greater strides than ever in building a nationwide clean energy economy," said Vice President Biden.  “This investment in some of the most innovative energy-efficiency projects across the country will not only help homeowners and businesses make cost-cutting retrofit improvements, but also create jobs right here in America."

“This initiative will help overcome the barriers to making energy efficiency easy and accessible to all – inconvenience, lack of information, and lack of financing,” said Energy Secretary Steven Chu.  "Block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood, we will make our communities more energy efficient and help families save money.  At the same time, we’ll create thousands of jobs and strengthen our economy."
In addition to the $452 million Recovery Act investment, the 25 projects announced today will leverage an estimated $2.8 billion from other sources over the next 3 years to retrofit hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses across the country.  Overall, the program funding was eight times oversubscribed, with more than $3.5 billion in applications received for the just over $450 million in Recovery Act funds available, indicating significant demand for investment in energy-saving and job-creating projects like these nationwide.
Grantees will employ innovative financing models to make these savings accessible, for example by offering low and no-interest loans that are repaid through property tax and utility bills.  In implementing these projects, grantees will deliver verified energy savings and incorporate sustainable business models, to ensure that buildings will continue to be retrofitted after Recovery Act funds are spent.  The Department will use the lessons learned from these pilot programs to develop best-practice guides to comprehensive retrofit programs that can be adopted and implemented by other communities across the country.
The Retrofit Ramp-Up projects, which are part of the overall $80 billion Recovery Act investment in clean energy and energy efficiency, complement the Obama Administration’s ‘Recovery through Retrofit’ initiative, which lays the groundwork for a self-sustaining and robust home energy efficiency industry.  The awards are the competitive portion of DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program, which was funded for the first time under the Recovery Act to help state, local, and tribal communities make strategic investments in improving energy efficiency, reduce energy use and fossil fuel emissions.
Secretary Chu, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and Carol Browner, Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change, joined Vice President Biden today for the announcement, which was the first of more than two dozen events and activities Administration officials will participate in around Earth Day.  In addition to today’s event, the President will host an Earth Day reception with environmental leaders on Thursday, April 22nd, a video message from the President will air as part of events on the National Mall on Sunday, April 25th, and Administration officials will participate in educational programs with school children, visit wetland and coastal restoration projects and participate in community service projects as part of the President’s Earth Day call to action.  The events will highlight some of the ways the Administration is working to improve the environment, transform American infrastructure for greater energy-efficiency and build a clean energy economy that supports the jobs of the future.  As part of the events, Administration officials will also continue the push for Congress to act on HOME STAR legislation and comprehensive energy and climate change legislation.  A full roster of Administration Earth Day activities is below and more information on the President’s Earth Day call to action is available at www.WhiteHouse.gov/EarthDay. 

Retrofit Ramp-Up Awards
The following governments and non-profit organizations have been selected for Retrofit Ramp-Up awards.  These projects are planned to begin in fall 2010.  Final award amounts are subject to negotiation:
Austin, Texas - $10 million
Boulder County, Colorado - $25 million
Camden, New Jersey - $5 million
Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning - $25 million 
Greater Cincinnati Energy Alliance, Ohio - $17 million
Greensboro, North Carolina - $5 million 
Indianapolis, Indiana - $10 million
Kansas City, Missouri - $20 million
Los Angeles County, California - $30 million
Lowell, Massachusetts - $5 million
State of Maine - $30 million
State of Maryland - $20 million
State of Michigan - $30 million
State of Missouri - $5 million
Omaha, Nebraska - $10 million
State of New Hampshire - $10 million
New York State Research and Development Authority - $40 million
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - $25 million
Phoenix, Arizona - $25 million
Portland, Oregon - $20 million
San Antonio, Texas - $10 million
Seattle, Washington - $20 million
Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance - $20 million
Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority, Ohio - $15 million
Wisconsin Energy Conservation Corporation  - $20 million
For more information on the selected projects, visit HERE.  A map of the selected projects is available HERE.
Retrofit By the Numbers
• Residential and commercial buildings consume 40 percent of the energy and represent 40 percent of the carbon emissions in the United States.  Building efficiency represents one of the easiest, most immediate and most cost effective ways to reduce carbon emissions and save money on energy bills while creating new jobs:
• Existing techniques and technologies in energy efficiency retrofitting can reduce energy use by up to 40 percent per home and lower total associated greenhouse gas emissions by up to 160 million metric tons annually.
• Residential and commercial retrofits also have the potential to cut energy bills by $40 billion annually.
Administration Official Earth Day Events and Activities
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar
Thursday, April 22 – Washington, DC
Secretary Salazar will make remarks on the National Mall for Take a Child to Work/40th Anniversary Earth Day/Buddy the Bison Hike sponsored by the National Park Service.  Five hundred local students will participate in the event.
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke
Wednesday, April 21 – Washington, DC
Secretary Locke will deliver keynote remarks at the Creating Climate Wealth Summit at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. He will address how energy reform can strengthen our security and spur economic growth.
Thursday, April 22 – Jersey City, NJ
Secretary Locke will speak in Jersey City, N.J., at the Lincoln Park restoration project that is turning a landfill into a healthy wetland. NOAA funded this habitat restoration project through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis
Thursday, April 22 – Online Webchat
On Thursday, Secretary Hilda Solis will host a webchat to discuss issues and opportunities related to Earth Day. Also on Thursday, the Department of Labor will issue a report detailing green job training opportunities made available over the past year, including $490 million in Recovery Act funding for green jobs training.
Friday, April 23 – Washington, DC
On Friday, a Job Corps ceremony will honor a winning Job Corps Center for their green construction project.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius
Thursday, April 22 – Chicago, IL
Secretary Sebelius will hold an Earth Day health event with Housing and Urban Development Deputy Secretary Ron Sims at a Chicago Public Housing Authority site.
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan
Thursday, April 22 – Washington, DC
Secretary Donovan will deliver remarks at the Earth Day Network’s 40th Anniversary of Earth Day rally on the National Mall, in which he will highlight the President’s Earth Day Call to Action and HUD’s efforts to develop more sustainable, inclusive neighborhoods, while increasing green job and green housing opportunities for families across the country.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood
Thursday, April 22, Secretary LaHood – Chicago, IL
Secretary LaHood will attend an Earth Day event at Daley Plaza in Chicago.  The event includes a school climate video competition for participating school groups and will have alternative fuel vehicles on display.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu
Thursday, April 22 - Washington, DC
Secretary Chu will speak at an Earth Day celebration for Department of Energy employees.
Friday, April 23 – Philadelphia, PA
Secretary Chu will hold a clean energy event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, focusing on the benefits of energy efficiency.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan
Thursday April 22 – Washington, DC
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will deliver remarks at a ceremony commemorating the 40th anniversary of Earth Day Thursday at the National Mall in Washington.  Secretary Duncan will discuss how education can play a role in developing a green economy.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson
Wednesday, April 21 – Pittsburgh, PA
Administrator Jackson will be in Pittsburgh for an Energy Star event with children from the Sarah Heinz House Boys and Girls Club. This is a club that provides children and teenagers with strong role models and a safe, fun place to go after school, on weekends, and during the summer.
Thursday, April 22nd - New York City
The Administrator will participate in an urban-focused community service project with Green For All at the Grant Houses Community Garden in Manhattan. Administrator Jackson will take a tour of the garden, deliver remarks to press, students and volunteers and participate in a planting activity with volunteers.  The Administrator will also be a guest on the David Letterman Show to talk about the 40th anniversary of Earth Day and the President’s clean energy and green jobs agenda.
Friday, April 23rd to Sunday, April 25th - Washington, DC
To commemorate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, the EPA will be hosting a celebration event Saturday and Sunday, April 24-25, on the National Mall. The event will feature a variety of interactive, family friendly exhibits that highlight the work of the Agency and celebrate its 40th anniversary this year.  Administrator Jackson will appear on The National Mall on Friday to visit the Office of Research and Development’s P3 student participants and recognize winners. P3 is the next step beyond P2 – pollution prevention – and focuses on the three components of sustainability: people, prosperity, and the planet.
White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley
Sunday, April 25 – Washington, DC
Chair Sutley will deliver remarks at the Earth Day Network’s 40th Anniversary of Earth Day festivities on the National Mall.  She will focus on the Obama Administration’s environmental agenda, and how the transition to a clean energy economy can create millions of American jobs while reducing our dependence on foreign oil.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler
Thursday, April 22 – Washington, DC
The Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler will attend the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division’s (ENRD) Earth Day 2010 event on April 22 at Marvin Gaye Park where it has held its annual Earth Day service celebration since 2004.  In those five years, the Division has been able to help the park purchase over $7,500 worth of trees and landscaping materials as part of the park revitalization event.  ENRD has also devoted over 2,500 hours of employee time to planting trees, removing trash, laying sod, and gardening.
Deputy Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan and Agriculture Undersecretary for Rural Development Dallas Tonsager
Friday April 23 – Sussex County, DE
Deputy Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan will travel to Delaware on Friday to participate in a groundbreaking ceremony for a project that will modernize water quality and public sanitation services in Sussex County through the upgrading of the Inland Bays Wastewater Treatment Facility.
Friday April 23 – Woodland Park, CO
Agriculture Undersecretary for Rural Development Dallas Tonsager will travel to Woodland Park, Colorado, where he will participate in an event marking the use of Recovery Act funds to improve drinking water quality in a subdivision.
Commerce Department Senior Officials
Earth Day Week - Huntington Beach, CA; Cape Hatteras, NC; Seattle, WA; Muskegon Lake, MI; Grande Isle, LA; Maunalua Bay, HI; Jersey City, NJ; and Florida Keys, FL
April 17 through 23, the Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) leadership will hold events at American Recovery and Reinvestment Act coastal restoration projects in eight states. The events will highlight job creation in Huntington Beach, California; Cape Hatteras, North Carolina; Seattle, Washington; Muskegon Lake, Michigan; Grande Isle, Louisiana; Maunalua Bay, Hawaii; Jersey City, New Jersey; and Florida Keys, Florida.
Office of Science and Technology Policy Director John Holdren
Thursday April 22 – Berkley, California
OSTP Director John Holdren will be in Berkeley, Calif., where he will give a free, public, evening lecture on the topic of: “Science and Technology for Sustainable Well-Being: Priorities and Policies in the Obama Administration,” to be held in Sibley Auditorium in the Bechtel Engineering Center at the University of California, Berkeley.
Veterans Affairs Officials
Week-long
Hospital Directors and Regional Office Directors will lead Earth Day events at VA health facilities across the country including Martinsburg, WV; North Texas; Clarksburg, VA; Saginaw, MI; Battle Creek, MI; San Diego, CA; Spokane. WA; Fresno, CA Los Angeles, CA; Long Beach, CA; Reno, NV; Tucson, AZ, Boise, ID; Menlo Park, CA;, Palo Alto, CA and Ft. Harrison, MT.
Treasury Department Initiative
Earth Day Week
With Americans poised to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day this week, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced a broad new initiative to dramatically increase the number of electronic transactions that involve Treasury and millions of citizens and businesses, a move that is expected to save more than $400 million and 12 million pounds of paper in the first five years alone.  Treasury will also make an announcement about a change in the Department’s energy consumption that, when coupled with the move from paper to electronic transactions, will greatly reduce Treasury’s environmental impact.
NASA
Earth Day Week – Washington, DC
NASA is taking part in the celebration of Earth Day's fortieth anniversary on the National Mall in Washington beginning Saturday, April 17. The agency's involvement includes 9 consecutive days of activities and exhibits open to the public.  The 'NASA Village,' which contains three domed tents, will highlight the use of NASA science and technology to advance knowledge and awareness about our planet and sustain our environment.

Blog posts on this issue

• 
  
  April 22, 2010 12:11 PM EDT

  OSTP Celebrates Earth Day 2010 with Public Lecture, New GLOBE Report

  OSTP Director John P. Holdren will give a free public lecture at the University of California, Berkeley, this evening as part of the White House’s celebration of Earth Day 2010. Dr. Holdren’s talk, "Science and Technology for Sustainable Well-Being: Priorities and Policies in the Obama Administration," will highlight Administration initiatives that are addressing the pressing economic, environmental, energy-, and climate-related challenges facing the Nation today.
• 
  
  April 22, 2010 10:52 AM EDT

  Happy Earth Day!

  In honor of the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day, Nancy Sutley discusses the importance of protecting the environment now and for future generations.
• 
  
  April 22, 2010 10:41 AM EDT

  Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on the Clean Energy Transformation

  The Recovery Act created more that 80,000 clean energy jobs in the first quarter of 2010, according to a new supplement to the CEA's Third Report to Congress on the Recovery Act, which was released on April 14, 2010.
• view all related blog posts

Backers defend AZ crackdown on illegal immigrants

April 15, 2010

Jonathan J. CooperSupporters of the nation's toughest crackdown on illegal immigration, on the verge of approval in the Arizona Legislature, say the state law is necessary to help stamp out crime and keep citizens and law enforcement officers safe.
The measure would make it a crime under state law to be in the country illegally. It would also require local police officers to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they are here illegally.
Immigrants unable to produce documents showing they are allowed to be in the U.S. could be arrested, jailed for up to six months, and fined $2,500.
"No longer will we sit by and let our citizens be killed, maimed, injured (and) hurt," said Republican state Sen. Russell Pearce, who sponsored the measure.
But civil rights activists warn that Arizona is inviting rampant racial profiling and police-state tactics.
"That is an unprecedented expansion of police power," said Alessandra Soler Meetze, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona. "It's giving police officers a green light to harass anyone who looks or sounds foreign."
The ACLU and immigrant rights groups are demanding Republican Gov. Jan Brewer veto the measure if it reaches her. The Republican has not announced whether she will sign it, but said she is a strong supporter of pragmatic immigration laws.
Her predecessor, Janet Napolitano, a Democrat who is now President Barack Obama's Homeland Security secretary, vetoed similar proposals.
Current law in Arizona and most states doesn't require police to ask about the immigration status of those they encounter. And many police departments prohibit officers from inquiring out of fear that immigrants won't cooperate in other investigations.
The law also would crack down on employment for illegal immigrants by prohibiting people from blocking traffic when they seek or offer day labor on street corners. Also, a judge could fine a city for not enforcing the immigration law vigorously enough.
The new measure would be just the latest crackdown of its kind in Arizona, which has an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants.
Pearce, the bill's sponsor, has been the driving force behind Arizona's tough new measures, including a law copied in other states that punishes companies caught knowingly hiring illegal immigrants. He insists the measures are aimed at enforcing immigration laws, not racial profiling.
"I believe handcuffs are a great tool, but you have to put them on the right people," said Pearce, a former cop who can list the local officers killed or wounded by illegal immigrants. "Get them off the police officers and put them on the bad guys."
Supporters of the crackdown also point to Phoenix's high kidnapping rate, which law enforcement says is fueled by immigrant and drug smugglers who snatch their rivals or their family members as a way to collect unpaid debts, make quick money or as retaliation for earlier abductions.
Anger over the porous Mexican border mounted last month when an Arizona cattle rancher was shot to death. Investigators said he may have been killed by drug runners working for cartels based in Mexico.
The new measure is supported by police unions representing rank-and-file officers, who deny they would engage in profiling.
It is opposed by police chiefs, who worry that the law would be too costly, that it would distract them from dealing with more serious problems, and that it would sow such distrust among immigrants that they would not cooperate with officers investigating other crimes.
Legal immigrants fear the law would give officers easy excuses to stop them, and that even U.S. citizens could find themselves detained if they can't prove their legal status.
"When they come up with these things, it doesn't matter if I'm here legally," said Jose Melendez, a 55-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen from Guadalajara, Mexico. "If they see a Mexican face and a Mexican name, they'll ask for papers."
Anti-immigration activists say the larger goal is to discourage illegal immigration by making the U.S. inhospitable.
"Most illegals would leave on their own if they felt the U.S. was serious about our laws," said William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee.
House Republicans passed the bill on a party-line vote Tuesday. The Senate approved it in February but must vote on changes made in the House before sending it to the governor.
___
Associated Press Writer Felicia Fonseca in Flagstaff, Ariz., contributed.

Poll: 78 percent don't trust big government

Trust numbers 'rarely get this low,' survey sponsor says

 

 

By LIZ SIDOTI

The Associated Press

updated 7:56 p.m. ET, Sun., April 18, 2010

WASHINGTON - Can you trust Washington?

Nearly 80 percent of Americans say they can't and they have little faith that the massive federal bureaucracy can solve the nation's ills, according to a survey from the Pew Research Center that shows public confidence in the federal government at one of the lowest points in a half-century.

The poll released Sunday illustrates the ominous situation facing President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party as they struggle to maintain their comfortable congressional majorities in this fall's elections. Midterm prospects are typically tough for the party in power. Add a toxic environment like this and lots of incumbent Democrats could be out of work.

The survey found that just 22 percent of those questioned say they can trust Washington almost always or most of the time and just 19 percent say they are basically content with it. Nearly half say the government negatively effects their daily lives, a sentiment that's grown over the past dozen years.

This anti-government feeling has driven the tea party movement, reflected in fierce protests this past week.

"The government's been lying to people for years. Politicians make promises to get elected, and when they get elected, they don't follow through," says Cindy Wanto, 57, a registered Democrat from Nemacolin, Pa., who joined several thousand for a rally in Washington on April 15 — the tax filing deadline. "There's too much government in my business. It was a problem before Obama, but he's certainly not helping fix it."

Majorities in the survey call Washington too big and too powerful, and say it's interfering too much in state and local matters. The public is split over whether the government should be responsible for dealing with critical problems or scaled back to reduce its power, presumably in favor of personal responsibility.

About half say they want a smaller government with fewer services, compared with roughly 40 percent who want a bigger government providing more. The public was evenly divided on those questions long before Obama was elected. Still, a majority supported the Obama administration exerting greater control over the economy during the recession.

'Rarely gets this low'
"Trust in government rarely gets this low," said Andrew Kohut, director of the nonpartisan center that conducted the survey. "Some of it's backlash against Obama. But there are a lot of other things going on."

And, he added: "Politics has poisoned the well."

The survey found that Obama's policies were partly to blame for a rise in distrustful, anti-government views. In his first year in office, the president orchestrated a government takeover of Detroit automakers, secured a $787 billion stimulus package and pushed to overhaul the health care system.

But the poll also identified a combination of factors that contributed to the electorate's hostility: the recession that Obama inherited from President George W. Bush; a dispirited public; and anger with Congress and politicians of all political leanings.

"I want an honest government. This isn't an honest government. It hasn't been for some time," said self-described independent David Willms, 54, of Sarasota, Fla. He faulted the White House and Congress under both parties.

In the short term, the deepening distrust is politically troubling for Obama and Democrats. Analysts say out-of-power Republicans could well benefit from the bitterness toward Washington come November, even though voters blame them, too, for partisan gridlock that hinders progress.

In a democracy built on the notion that citizens have a voice and a right to exercise it, the long-term consequences could prove to be simply unhealthy — or truly debilitating. Distrust could lead people to refuse to vote or get involved in their own communities. Apathy could set in, or worse — violence.

'Nothing wrong' with distrust
Democrats and Republicans both accept responsibility and fault the other party for the electorate's lack of confidence.

"This should be a wake-up call. Both sides are guilty," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. She pointed to "nonsense" that goes on during campaigns that leads to "promises made but not promises kept." Still, she added: "Distrust of government is an all-American activity. It's something we do as Americans and there's nothing wrong with it."

Sen. Scott Brown, a Republican who won a long-held Democratic Senate seat in Massachusetts in January by seizing on public antagonism toward Washington, said: "It's clear Washington is broken. There's too much partisan bickering to be able to solve the problems people want us to solve."

And, he added: "It's going to be reflected in the elections this fall."

But Matthew Dowd, a top strategist on Bush's re-election campaign who now shuns the GOP label, says both Republicans and Democrats are missing the mark.

"What the country wants is a community solution to the problems but not necessarily a federal government solution," Dowd said. Democrats are emphasizing the federal government, while Republicans are saying it's about the individual; neither is emphasizing the right combination to satisfy Americans, he said.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The State of Hypocrisy

April 18, 2010

By Ruben Navarrette

SAN DIEGO -- In the late 1990s, I took a job writing for a newspaper and moved to Arizona.
At least I think it was Arizona. The place I remember bears little resemblance to the one you hear about today.
Back then, nativists were on the political fringe; now they're becoming mainstream. Republicans were anxiously reaching out to Hispanics; now GOP legislators are making Hispanics anxious with race-baiting measures to end affirmative action. Political leaders, including the Republican governor, had torpedoed efforts to bring before voters a ballot initiative that would have denied education and social services to illegal immigrants; now Arizonans are in such a punitive mood that they would easily approve such a measure.
Back then, none other than Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was quoted as saying there wasn't much his deputies could do about illegal immigration since being in the country without documentation wasn't a crime; now Arpaio is so bent on rounding up illegal immigrants that even after the Obama administration stripped him of the authority to determine someone's legal status, he kept on doing it.
And perhaps most significantly, back then the business community was so desperate for labor that it was doing everything but recruiting illegal immigrants and offering them signing bonuses to make beds, cook meals, build homes and otherwise help construct a paradise in the desert; now that a lot of the work has been done, Arizonans want to portray themselves as innocent victims of an invasion. Fifteen years ago, Arizonans wanted cheap labor; today, they want your sympathy.
Arizona lawmakers think they're showing how tough they can be in passing a harsh new law that makes it a state crime to be in the United States without the proper legal documents. But really, all they're doing is showing their hypocrisy. If the legislators who voted for this law were serious about trying to curb illegal immigration, they would cut off the job magnet. The Arizona Legislature focused on employers a few years ago, but the effort was aimed at companies as opposed to individuals. Start locking up soccer moms for hiring undocumented housekeepers or Paradise Valley lawyers for outsourcing their yardwork and then we'll talk.
The new legislation, billed as one of the strictest anti-illegal immigration laws in the country, would grant police the power to stop anyone suspected of being in the country illegally and verify their immigration status.
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican intent on scoring political points by railing against illegal immigrants, will likely sign the bill. And, shortly thereafter, the lawsuits will fly as critics try to get the law tossed out by the courts. There's a good chance of this happening. The law appears to be an unconstitutional power grab by the state that usurps the authority of the federal government to establish and enforce U.S. immigration policy. It will also almost certainly lead to racial profiling of Latinos, including those born in the United States.
This bill is as bad as they come. Not surprisingly, it is the brainchild of state Sen. Russell Pearce, who has spent years teaching Arizonans division. By tapping into a fear of foreigners, Pearce has successfully scared up votes, headlines and political contributions. Some lawmakers accomplish those things through visionary leadership, courageous acts and soaring rhetoric. People like Pearce do it by pandering to racists and playing to the lowest common denominator.
The real tragedy in all this is that the bill, which professes to take a hard line against illegal activity, will almost certainly produce much more of it. By proposing a law that deputizes every local and state law enforcement officer in Arizona to enforce immigration law, Pearce has single-handedly destroyed the trust between law enforcement agencies and the immigrant communities they have spent years trying to better serve. Good luck finding people who are willing to report crimes and be interviewed as witnesses now that they are afraid they might be arrested or deported. That makes these communities easy prey for criminals and makes the job of law enforcement much harder.
This measure is not wise, or helpful or defensible. In fact, in many ways, it's a surefire recipe for disaster. And it's also the kind of thing that the Arizona I'm familiar with would never have considered.

ruben.navarrette@uniontrib.com

Copyright 2010, Washington Post Writers Group

The Real Story of Americans' Immigration Views

April 18, 2010

By David Paul Kuhn

Americans support legal immigration and oppose illegal immigration.
But another picture often emerges from the chattering class. Americans' opposition to illegal immigration is wrongly described as opposition to immigration itself.

Immigration is America's most contentious of unresolved issues. The public remains divided over aspects of the issue. They do, however, understand the issue. Yet all too often Americans' fairly sophisticated view of immigration is simplified. And that simplification tends to skew the facts.
Friday's New York Times exemplified the problem. The nation's premier newspaper reported on a new immigration study. "In 14 of the 25 largest metropolitan areas," the story read, "more immigrants are employed in white-collar occupations than in lower-wage work like construction, manufacturing or cleaning.
"The data belie a common perception in the nation's hard-fought debate over immigration -- articulated by lawmakers, pundits and advocates on all sides of the issue -- that the surge in immigration in the last two decades has overwhelmed the United States with low-wage foreign laborers," the Times continued.
But the study's findings actually substantiate those "common perceptions."
The public perceives illegal immigrants as significantly more likely to be "low-wage foreign laborers" and add to the ranks of those relying on public and private social services. However, cherry pick the facts and another conclusion could be reached.
"Overall, 48 percent of immigrants work in white-collar jobs-managerial, professional, sales, and administrative support. By comparison, 52 percent work in service, blue-collar, or farming, fishing and forestry jobs," according to the nonpartisan Fiscal Policy Institute study, commissioned by the Times. This is the picture that emerges from all 25 cities studied.
The Times conflates views on legal and illegal immigrants. The issue is not what it reports, but what the Times does not.
Only about one in 10 illegal immigrants work in white-collar professions, the study concluded.
"There is no doubt that undocumented workers are much more likely to be in lower skilled jobs and much more likely to have less education," said David Kallick, the principal author of immigration analysis. The authoritative 2009 Pew Hispanic Center study -- that Kallick's analysis relied upon to track unauthorized immigrants' employment -- sheds more light on the gap between legal and illegal immigrants.
Pew found that 35 percent of legal immigrants have at least a bachelor's degree, three points above the level for the U.S.-born workforce. By comparison, less than half as many illegal immigrants, 15 percent, have a bachelor's degree.
The differences between legal and illegal immigrants are inseparable from how Americans view the two. In 2007, with Washington debating immigration reform, polling organizations looked more deeply into the issue. An ABC News poll asked if illegal immigrants help or hurt the country. It asked the same question about legal immigrants. A majority of Americans, 54 percent, said illegal immigrants "do more to hurt the country." Yet 59 percent said legal immigrants "do more to help the country."
The same trend is visible in key swing states like Ohio. About two-thirds of Ohioans said illegal immigrants "hurt the country" while nearly three-quarters believe legal immigrants "help the country," according to a Quinnipiac poll in 2007.
The "why" behind this legality fault line is more complicated. Americans' concern about legal status is intractable from the correlated issues.
It's not generally a matter of job competition. At least a majority, 56 percent, believe that illegal immigrants "mostly take jobs that nobody wants," according to a 2007 Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll. Other polls show more than two-thirds share this view.
There is however an absence of detailed data on the Great Recession's impact on the jobs issue. At least two-thirds of all job losses in the recession are among blue collar workers. And as studies indicate, most illegal immigrants are blue collar.
We do know from a recent M.I.T. and Harvard study, also citied by the Times, that six in 10 Americans oppose an increase in low-skilled immigration. And as noted above, illegal immigration strongly correlates to low-skilled immigration.
Cultural protectionism is likely not a major factor either. A 2007 Gallup poll, while it failed to differentiate legal status, clarifies this point. Based on six issues, Gallup asked Americans "whether immigrants to the United States are making the situation in the country better or worse?" The only issue that a plurality said "better," 40 percent, was "food, music and the arts." The majority said "worse" on the issues of crime and taxes.
Taxes especially evoke why, to Americans, illegal immigration concerns social services. More than two-thirds of voters view illegal immigrants as a significant strain on the U.S. budget, according to a recent Rasmussen poll.
Moreover, according to a 2006 Rasmussen poll, about six in 10 Americans favor an immigration policy that "welcomes all immigrants except national security threats, criminals, and those who would come here to live off the U.S. welfare system." Illegal immigrants are ineligible for welfare. But "welfare system" tends to be a catchall for the public's anxiety about strained safety nets (such as the use of emergency rooms for healthcare needs).
The poverty rate for adult illegal immigrants is 21 percent, compared to 13 percent for legal immigrant adults and 10 percent for U.S.-born adults, according to Pew.
Pew also finds that 47 percent of illegal immigrants are not high school graduates, compared to only 22 percent of legal immigrants and 8 percent of Americans.
This is one reason immigration is such a divisive issue. It relates to many of the most contentious issues. We know from polls that a majority of Americans believe illegal immigrants in the nation will, and should, be offered a path to citizenship or be allowed to stay as guest workers. Notably, polls show they favor such a policy in conjunction with increased border security. The 2007 LA Times/Bloomberg poll placed the number in favor of citizenship at six in 10. A 2009 CBS/New York Times poll found that 44 percent, the plurality, favor a path to citizenship while 22 percent favor a guest worker status. Americans appear to link the immigration issue to the hotly debated subject of safety nets, from welfare to healthcare, perhaps for this reason. They believe it's likely many illegal immigrants will one day become eligible for these programs. About six in 10 illegal immigrants lack health insurance, more than twice the level for legal immigrants and about six times the rate of U.S. adults.
In fact, most Americans view the availability -- or the potential availability -- of safety nets as magnet for illegal immigration. The recent Rasmussen poll found that about two-thirds of voters believe that the "availability of government money and services draw illegal immigrants" to the nation.
Some read this desire to limit illegal and low-skilled immigrants as callus. But the United States has unique problems. It is the only first world nation that shares a land border with a third world nation (providing Turkey is considered second world). Yet it is also uniquely open to immigrants. The United States accepts more legal immigrants as permanent residents than all other nations combined, according to a 2006 Department of State report.
It's clear Americans favor more skilled legal immigrants. Far more difficult is creating a policy that meets that public desire. There are several proposals in Congress to encourage the immigration of highly skilled or well-educated immigrants. It will be an uphill battle.
Back in 2007, with Congress mired in the immigration debate, a bipartisan Senate proposal for a "merit-based system" infuriated some activists. The proposal would have used a point system to weigh desired skills, similar to programs used from England to Australia to Canada.
"At best, Congress might set up a pilot program. That's probably the best scenario for points system advocates," said Cornell University's Stephen Yale-Loehr, one of the nation's leading experts on immigration law and an advocate of a merit-based system. But Yale-Loehr added, "It's probably unlikely. Points systems are very contentious."
The most active advocates for immigration reform are Hispanic groups. These groups also strictly oppose a merit-based system.
Hispanics are disproportionately represented among illegal and blue collar immigrants. That means a merit-based path to citizenship would disproportionately disfavor Hispanics. About six in ten illegal immigrants are from Mexico. In total, more than three quarters of illegal immigrants come from Central and South America, Pew finds.
Of course, low-skilled immigrant workers remain crucial to the U.S. economy. No serious merit-based proposal blocks low-skill immigrants or refugees. It's a matter of emphasis.
And so it is also, at minimum, a matter of emphasis for the public as well. Americans' preference for skilled legal immigrants concerns both "skill" and "legal." But too many focus on the latter and ignore the former.
In the end, all sides agree that the immigration issue will prove exceedingly difficult to resolve in the years to come. But resolution is surely impossible if we don't properly understand what Americans view as the issue.
David Paul Kuhn is the Chief Political Correspondent for RealClearPolitics and the author of The Neglected Voter: White Men and the Democratic Dilemma. He can be reached at david@realclearpolitics.com and his writing followed via RSS.

Arizona Clears Strict Immigration Bill

By MIRIAM JORDAN

Arizona lawmakers on Tuesday passed one of the toughest pieces of immigration-enforcement legislation in the country, which would make it a violation of state law to be in the U.S. without proper documentation.
It would also grant police the power to stop and verify the immigration status of anyone they suspect of being illegal.
The bill could still face a veto from Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer. A spokesman for Ms. Brewer said she has not publicly commented on the bill. Ms. Brewer, a Republican, has argued for stringent immigration laws.
Under the measure, passed Tuesday by Arizona's lower house, after being passed earlier by the state Senate, foreign nationals are required to carry proof of legal residency.
Immigrants' rights groups roundly criticized the bill. "The objective is to make life miserable for immigrants so that they leave the state," said Chris Newman, general counsel for the Los Angeles-based National Day Laborer Organizing Network. "The bill constitutes a complete disregard for the rights of nonwhites in Arizona. It effectively mandates racial profiling."
The bill's author, State Sen. Russell Pearce, was in a committee session Tuesday and couldn't be reached, his offices said. Mr. Pearce, a Republican, represents the city of Mesa, in Maricopa County, whose sheriff, Joe Arpaio, has gained a national reputation for his tough stance on immigration enforcement. A spokesman for Mr. Arpaio didn't return a request for comment.

The bill is different from an earlier version, giving protections for church and community organizations from criminal prosecution for transporting or harboring illegal immigrants.
In a statement, Tuesday Rep. John Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills) called the measure "a comprehensive immigration enforcement bill that addresses the concerns of our communities, constituents and colleagues."
"This updated version gives our local police officers the tools they need to combat illegal immigration, while protecting the civil rights of citizens and legal residents."However, human rights groups are certain to challenge the measure in court, said Joe Rubio, lead organizer for Valley Interfaith Project, a Phoenix-based advocacy group, calling it "an economic train wreck." He added that "Arizona's economic recovery will lag way behind the country's if we keep chasing away our workforce. Where do the legislators think business will find workers?"
The bill in some ways toughens up a situation that the Obama administration had tried to roll back. Under a program known as 287g, some local law enforcement agencies were trained to enforce federal immigration laws by checking suspects' immigration status.
Mr. Arpaio, the Maricopa county sheriff, had been one of the most aggressive enforcers of 287g. However, the Obama administration in recent months has sought to scale back that program, and had reduced the resources it made available to Mr. Arpaio's office and others.
—Tamara Audi contributed to this article.