No funding for ISIS via Lebanese banks: Salameh
ISIS was not receiving funds being routed through Lebanese banks, Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh said Tuesday.
Monday, 23 March 2015
Salam: Lebanon to seek Arab support in anti-terror fight
BEIRUT: Lebanon will ask the forthcoming Arab summit for support in its open battle against terrorism as well as financial aid to cope with the Syrian refugee crisis, Prime Minister Tammam Salam said Monday.
In the absence of a president, Salam will head Lebanon’s delegation to the annual Arab League summit, scheduled to be held on March 28-29 in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, with national security topping the agenda.
Arab League officials have said the threat from the ISIS group, the war in Syria, and the crises in Libya and Yemen are among the issues expected to be discussed during the summit.
Speaking to The Daily Star, Salam said terrorism, which is threatening the security of Arab countries, is among key issues to be addressed by Lebanon during the summit.
“Among the important issues to be raised by Lebanon and which will have strong presence in this summit is the issue of terrorism which is sweeping across our countries and threatening our sovereignty and security,” the premier said.
“Lebanon will explain its efforts in the battle against terrorism. We can say that we have made successes [in this battle], thanks to our Army, security forces and national unity,” he added.
Salam’s remarks come amid mounting fears that ISIS and Nusra Front militants, entrenched in caves in the rugged mountainous outskirts of the northeastern town of Arsal, are gearing up for a major offensive deep into Lebanese territory along the eastern border with Syria when the snow melts.
The Army has frequently clashed with ISIS and Nusra Front gunmen in areas near the border with Syria.
It has also carried out pre-emptive strikes against terror cells and thwarted several suicide bomb attacks in the past few months.
Salam said that Lebanon would also request from the Arab summit financial aid to help it cope with the heavy economic and social burdens caused by the presence on Lebanese territory of more than one million Syrian refugees fleeing the war in their country.
“We will also raise the tragedy of Syrian refugees and the enormous burden it represents for Lebanon,” the premier said. “We will reaffirm what we had previously said before our Arab brothers and international donors, that the aid we have received so far still falls short of meeting the huge needs caused by the refugee influx.”“In this respect, we will certainly ask our Arab brothers to provide assistance to Lebanon in line with a government plan exceeding $2 billion,” Salam said. He added that Lebanon would present the plan to a donor conference scheduled to be held in Kuwait on March 31.
Lebanon hosts 1.1 million Syrian refugees registered with the UNHCR, though government estimates put that number higher, putting a severe strain on Lebanon’s feeble infrastructure and its social services.
Salam underlined the need for Arab solidarity in the face of popular upheavals and turmoil threatening the security and stability of some Arab countries. “Lebanon will stress at the summit the significance of Arab solidarity in this difficult stage which is witnessing tragedies and disasters in several Arab countries,” he said.
He added that the 4-year-old war in Syria has so far resulted in the killing of tens of thousands of civilians, wreaked massive destruction on the country’s national wealth and resources and threatened its territorial integrity.
“We hope this summit will help in strengthening Arab ranks and come out with resolutions that will help in facing the current challenges,” Salam said. “We will support any decision taken by the Arab League in this respect.”
Salam welcomed any Arab or foreign efforts to help Lebanon end the political deadlock that has left the country without a president for 10 months, but stressed that the solution to the crisis should be reached by the Lebanese.
“With regard to the political crisis in Lebanon, I say that any Arab or non-Arab effort that can help us overcome our problems, at the forefront of which is the vacancy in the presidency, is welcomed,” Salam said. “But we must know that the solution is in our hands, we the Lebanese. That’s why we will not make any request of help of this kind from our Arab brothers at this summit.”
Siniora tells STL how Bashar Assad’s insults brought Hariri to tears
BEIRUT: Standing outside the Grand Serail in January 2004, late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri leaned on the shoulder of his longtime friend and political ally Fouad Siniora and began to sob. Hariri seldom spoke about the disastrous meeting he had with Syrian President Bashar Assad and three top Syrian intelligence operatives the previous month but that day he indulged the catharsis.
“He [Hariri] told me ‘I will never forget so long as I live the humiliation and the insults directed to me by President Bashar Assad in the presence of his three officers,’” Siniora told the Special Tribunal for Lebanon on the first day of his testimony Monday.
Siniora never asked Hariri exactly what was said at that meeting, and the late prime minister never shared. His tears, however, told a story of unexpected indignity.
Siniora, who would become prime minister in 2005 after Hariri’s assassination, said that while Hariri had maintained a civil relationship with deceased Syrian President Hafez Assad, his relationship with Damascus soured when the younger Assad assumed the presidency in 2000.
While Hariri often argued with Hafez Assad, he at least felt “somebody was appreciating what he was saying,” Siniora told the court. “This is not what I used to get as an impression when Prime Minister Hariri used to talk about his relationship with Bashar Assad,” he added.
Through dialogue with Hafez Assad, Hariri was often able to execute reforms in Lebanon, Siniora said. After 2000, however, the Syrian regime and its allies in Lebanon stymied Hariri’s efforts to reform Lebanese institutions. Improvements in Lebanon’s education system, electrical grid, telecommunications networks and civil aviation industry were not properly implemented because of “the fears of the Syrian regime that any reform would lead to more openness, to more freedoms,” according to Siniora.
Siniora is the most senior politician to testify at the United Nations-backed STL to date. A number of Hariri’s allies and confidantes have appeared at the court in recent months to discuss the political context in Lebanon leading to the former prime minister’s assassination in February 2005.While Siniora decried in vague terms those who obstructed Hariri’s “reformist” vision, he broke ranks with other March 14 politicians who have testified before the STL by refusing to name specific individuals involved in the so-called Lebanese-Syrian security apparatus.
Siniora, who heads the Hariri’s Future Movement parliamentary bloc, may have been trying to avoid any renewed friction with Hezbollah as the two groups are engaged in a tenuous and ongoing political dialogue.
Although the court has charged five Hezbollah members with plotting the bomb which killed Hariri and 21 others in 2005, Siniora made no mention of the party in his testimony Monday.
When pressed to name other members of the “Syrian-Lebanese security system” he referenced repeatedly throughout his testimony, Siniora was decidedly reserved. “I do not like to name names,” he said. “I will be unfair toward one or two people if I name them and leave out hundreds of other people.”
Moreover, while several other March 14 politicians who have testified before the court said that Hariri understood the attempted assassination of MP Marwan Hamade as a message from the Syrian regime, Siniora refused to implicate Damascus in the incident. “I cannot identify ... who put his finger on the detonator,” Siniora said.
Among the few exceptions to Siniora’s conspicuous silence was former President Emile Lahoud. “President Lahoud always thought and believed that Prime Minister Hariri had a hidden agenda,” Siniora said. “This is something that reflects his lack of vision.”
Berri expects agreement on legislative session agenda
BEIRUT: Speaker Nabih Berri will chair a meeting of Parliament’s Secretariat Tuesday to discuss the agenda for a legislative session on urgent draft laws which the speaker will call after the legislature’s regular term began on March 17.
The meeting, to be held at Berri’s Ain al-Tineh residence, comes amid opposition expressed by some Christian parties to legislative activity during the 10-month-long presidential vacuum.
The meeting also comes amid sharp divisions between March 8 and March 14 MPs over the interpretation of what has been known among lawmakers as “necessary legislation” in the absence of a president.
Berri insists on holding legislative sessions because he wants to put an end to the continued obstruction of Parliament’s role during the presidential vacuum. He said the agenda for a legislative session would be agreed during Tuesday’s meeting.
Future MP Serge Torsarkissian, a member of Parliament’s Secretariat, said necessary legislation should be confined to very limited issues such as the 2015 draft budget, draft laws relating to the Lebanese Army and a new electoral law.
He said international agreements that would bring financial benefits to the state treasury should be approved before they are canceled.
According to Torsarkissian, draft laws approved recently by the joint parliamentary committees, such as the food safety bill and a bill that made public sector contract workers full-timers, are not part of “necessary legislation.”
Members of Parliament’s Secretariat, who are mostly March 14 lawmakers – except for MP Michel Moussa, who is close to Berri – are going to Tuesday’s meeting with this mentality, he said.
However, lawmakers are still split over the concept of “necessary legislation.” The Kataeb Party bloc sees that the term “necessary legislation” pertains to the financial and political authority, or budget and election draft laws.
The Lebanese Forces bloc sees that the public sector’s salary scale bill, which has not yet been approved by the joint committees, can be added to “necessary legislation” because it is a social matter.
Torsarkissian said he expected Parliament’s Secretariat, in agreement with Berri, to decide to include on the agenda of the legislative session all draft proposals pertaining to financial matters, namely the state’s financial relations with donor countries.
He pointed out that there are draft loan agreements with the World Bank and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development to finance projects within set deadlines which Lebanon could lose if they are not approved by Parliament.
Parliamentary sources said Parliament’s Secretariat is expected to agree on a concise agenda, ruling out the 2015 draft budget from discussion because it is not ready yet.
The sources also said a new electoral law would not be included on the agenda because so far there has been no agreement between the rival factions on any draft law or proposal.
Once an agreement is reached on a short agenda as widely expected, a quorum will be secured for a legislative session to be called by Berri, the sources said.
The sources said even a boycott by Kataeb or LF lawmakers would not scuttle any parliamentary session because many Christian MPs, including those form MP Michel Aoun’s bloc, would still attend.
Separately, MP Walid Jumblatt’s parliamentary bloc has yet to decide on government plans to either extend the terms of military and security chiefs or appoint new figures.
The issue of the possible extension of the terms of Army commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi and Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Basbous was discussed during a meeting last week between Aoun and Jumblatt at the latter’s residence in Clemenceau, according to Agriculture Minister Akram Chehayeb, who belongs to Jumblatt’s bloc.
Asked if Aoun and Jumblatt agreed on the issue of military and security chiefs, Chehayeb said in an interview published in An-Nahar newspaper Monday: “The Army is the country’s cornerstone, especially in these security circumstances where the Army is deployed in all Lebanese areas to face the Israeli enemy in the south and on the northern and eastern border [with Syria].”
He added that his bloc was against a vacuum in the military and security commands.
“We are against vacuum in the country. There is more than one opinion on this issue, including raising the retirement age of military personnel by Parliament, the extension of their terms by a decision by the interior and defense ministers, or the appointment of new officers by the Cabinet. So far, the picture is unclear. We will take our decision when [the picture] becomes clearer among the political parties,” Chehayeb said.
Aoun, leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, strongly opposes plans to extend the terms of both Basbous, who retires on June 5, and Kahwagi, who retires on Sept. 23, and has called for the appointment of two new officers in the Army and ISF commands. Aoun is pushing for the appointment of his son-in-law, Shamel Roukoz, the head of the Army Commando Unit, as new Army commander.
Salam suggests way of preserving TV stations’ cable rights
BEIRUT: Prime Minister Tammam Salam suggested Monday a system of cooperation between cable providers and Lebanon’s TV stations, who are seeking fees in return for access to their channels.
“The prime minister was very positive [with regard] to creating a method of cooperation that would preserve the rights of TV stations,” Talal Makdessi, chair of the board of directors of Tele Liban, said after meeting with the premier in the Grand Serail Monday.
Makdessi also noted that Lebanese TV stations would conduct the necessary studies to establish their legitimate rights.
Salam met with the chairmen of the boards of directors of Tele Liban, LBCI, MTV, Future TV, Al-Manar, NBN and Al-Jadeed. Makdessi said that Salam was “positive, realistic and rational” during the meeting.
Talks focused on the current reality of Lebanese media, and what difficulties TV channels are facing as a result of frequencies assigned to broadcast television channels, Makdessi said.
The meeting also discussed issues regarding cable providers who broadcast Lebanese TV channels without providing stations with any remuneration, he added.
Lebanon’s various stations are united on this subject, Makdessi said, adding that “TV stations must take their rights.”
TV stations, which are seeking fees from cable providers in return for access to their channels, have been assessing ways to win back their rights. There are around 700,000 to 800,000 cable subscribers in Lebanon.
They complain that cable companies are already paying such fees to foreign television stations, but not to Lebanese ones.
Last week, TV stations, which are of different political affiliations, held their first meeting with cable providers over the matter.
Television stations have also complained of severe financial difficulties over the past five years due to a drop in advertising revenues, partly resulting from the country’s political situation and economic crisis.
They are also seeking support and protection from the information and telecommunications ministries as they battle competition from foreign stations in Lebanon, and they want help preserving their syndication rights.
The heads of the TV stations believe the fact that they are united could help them get a lower price when negotiating with foreign news agencies for content.
In a meeting with Telecommunications Minister Boutros Harb earlier this month, TV stations called on the lawmaker to cancel taxes on satellite news gathering equipment and to end dues levied on the transmission of broadcast images to satellites stationed in Lebanon. They also called for decreasing the costs incurred by the use of landline phones, cellphones and the Internet.
Makdessi Monday said that he would update the Information Ministry on the delegations’ meeting with Salam and Harb.
LU Tripoli classes to resume Thursday
BEIRUT: Classes will resume normally at a Tripoli Lebanese University branch rocked by protests in the past weeks over the appointment of a Christian director, the education minister said.
“As of Thursday, normal classes will resume in the Faculty of Economics and Business,” Education Minister Elias Bou Saab told a news conference at the Education Ministry Monday.
All branches of Lebanese University will have one month to re-examine the appointments of faculty directors in a manner which respected the National Pact of confessional power-sharing, Bou Saab added.
Exams have been postponed at LU’s Economics and Business Faculty in Tripoli following demonstrations against the appointment of a Christian director, prompting the Education Ministry to take notice. Around 1,300 students have their classes there.
Students have erected protest tents at the entrance to the campus Monday to keep up pressure for their demand to replace Jamila Yammin with a Sunni director.
Yammin was appointed last week to head the school.
Similar demonstrations broke out in February when LU President Adnan Sayyed Hussein appointed Antoine Tannous, another Christian LU professor, to head the branch.
Faced with relentless protests, Sayyed Hussein suspended his decision and tasked the dean of the faculty Ghassan Shlouq with managing the Tripoli branch, before appointing Yammin as new director earlier this month.
The protesters are supporters of the Future Movement, former Prime Minister Najib Mikati and other Sunni officials in the city.
The protesting parties complain that Sayyed Hussein does not discuss the appointment of Sunni directors with Sunni parties and accuse him of ignoring the tradition of maintaining an equal number of Sunni and Shiite LU directors, a norm which had prevailed in previous years.
Bou Saab’s remarks came after he chaired a meeting with professors representing political parties that are influential in the Tripoli branch along with Yammin and Shlouq.
Yammin will not be replaced, Bou Saab said, adding that she and Shlouq will agree on a new date for holding exams in the faculty.
Bou Saab highlighted the independence of the university, stressing that political parties should not interfere in its affairs.
The minister added that he contacted all political parties in the north in a bid to avoid any problem at the Tripoli branch in the future.
Bou Saab said that he also contacted Prime Minister Tammam Salam and Speaker Nabih Berri who assured him that politician approved “academic solutions” to end the crisis.
The issue concerning representation is not restricted to Tripoli, he added, noting that Lebanese University branches in south Lebanon, Mount Lebanon and Beirut have expressed similar concerns.
The problem is not only focused on the appointment of a Christian director, but relates to the fact that a “certain group” feels as though they are being marginalized, he said. “The appointment of the Christian director was only the last straw.”
Bou Saab said the re-examination of appointments would take into consideration the merit and sect of the candidate. But he underlined that no formula could be adopted that would create quotas for Muslims and Christians.
“Currently, there are 29 Muslims and 20 Christian directors in branches across Lebanon ... but we will not dictate a formula,” he said.
The minister said that Monday’s decisions were not carried out in coordination with Sayyed Hussein, due to disagreement between the two.
The dispute was due to Bou Saab’s opposition to the manner in which the president was making decisions and his refusal to engage in dialogue.
Despite the disparity, Bou Saab said he would coordinate with Sayyed Hussein to resolve the issue of appointments in a balanced manner.
Bou Saab acknowledged that LU president had the power to appoint directors, but added that the education minister had a supervisory authority and could intervene when there was a problem.
Support for host communities to expand to keep Lebanon stable
BEIRUT: Lebanon, in cooperation with the United Nations Development Program, will expand its support program for host communities in 2015, in line with the government’s policy on refugees to safeguard the country’s stability.
This year, the Social Affairs Ministry will continue to work with the U.N. body to build the capacities of communities affected by the Syrian crisis, with programs to alleviate tensions and prevent conflict, government and U.N. representatives said Monday during a news conference held at the Smallville Hotel in Badaro.
Projects will expand to include the municipality of Tripoli, in addition to refugee-populated areas further north in Akkar, the Bekaa Valley and Mount Lebanon.
“The truth is all of Lebanon is a host community and we need to try to work locally and then grow from there,” said Adib Nehme, an adviser to Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas. “That’s why we need to develop our work methods. The most important thing we need to do is develop a dynamic balance between relief work and stability and development work.”
Speaking during the event, Derbas revealed that the ministry would launch a project to establish kindergartens in Lebanese areas ready to receive poor Syrian and Lebanese children. “There is a segment [of Syrian refugees] which no one pays attention to. These are refugees between [the ages of] 3 and 5 who do not enroll at school,” Derbas said. “What is their psychological state and health situation?”
“We will be setting a humanitarian model of cooperation between Lebanese and Syrian societies if donor groups and the ministry are able to make this project materialize,” the minister added.
The news conference preceded a steering committee meeting made up of government representatives and donor countries. The committee meets once a year to provide the support project with strategic direction.
Technical groups comprised of relevant ministry representatives, the office of the prime minister, the Council for Development and Reconstruction and certain donor countries will meet to form a strategy to implement the decisions of the steering committee.
The Lebanon Host Communities Support Project was launched in February 2013 jointly between the Social Affairs Ministry and the UNDP with the aim of stabilizing careworn Lebanese communities hosting Syrian refugees. The project is also part of the Lebanon Crisis Response plan launched in December.
“I think we are all aware that the fifth year of the Syrian crisis is just starting, alas it does not appear very likely at all that it will be the last year of the crisis and Lebanon continues to host an unprecedented number of Syrians,” U.N. Resident Coordinator in Lebanon Ross Mountain said, addressing the conference.
“We all are aware of the impact this has on this fragile country, this fragile governance and the socio-economic impact.”
Lebanon hosts 1.1 million Syrian refugees registered with the UNHCR, though government estimates put the total number of refugees higher. The influx has overwhelmed Lebanon’s feeble infrastructure and put exceptional pressures on social services.
The program adopts a multilevel approach by reinforcing municipal services in especially impoverished communities, boosting basic health care and education, stimulating economic development by creating jobs and defusing tensions through dispute resolution.
“The expected outcome of this project is to increase stability, particularly in areas most affected by the crisis through improving livelihood and basic services in a participatory way, and this is done by strengthening the capacity of local actors,” said Raghed Assi, program manager at UNDP.
This year the project will attend to 173 communities, an increase from last year’s 146. Areas of local operation are selected based on a standardized national criteria which include considering the ratio of Syrian refugees to Lebanese and the poverty rate in a given area.
Obama chief of staff: Israel's 50-year 'occupation' must end
"An occupation that has lasted for almost 50 years must end," White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough told the annual J Street conference Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
itoggle caption Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
"An occupation that has lasted for almost 50 years must end," White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough told the annual J Street conference
Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
Through his chief of staff, President Obama is strongly countering rhetoric from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a two-state, Israeli-Palestinian solution.
"An occupation that has lasted for almost 50 years must end, and the Palestinian people must have the right to live in and govern themselves in their own sovereign state," Denis McDonough, President Obama's chief of staff, said Monday at the annual conference of J Street, a left-leaning pro-Israel group.
He added, "President Obama still firmly believes what he said in Jerusalem two years ago—that peace is necessary, just, and possible. Peace is necessary because it is the only way to ensure that a secure State of Israel is both Jewish and democratic. Israel cannot maintain military control of another people indefinitely. That's the truth."
It's not the first time the word "occupation" has been used by an Obama official. In fact, in 2013, President Obama used it himself.
"The Palestinian people deserve an end to occupation and the daily indignities that come with it," Obama said in Ramallah during a joint appearance with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
McDonough's remarks continued the White House's pushback against Netanyahu's comments before his reelection that a two-state solution was off the table. Netanyahu has since walked back the remarks.
"Over the course of President Obama's administration," McDonough said, "most recently with the tireless efforts of Secretary Kerry, the United States has expended tremendous energy in pursuit of this goal. That is why the prime minister's comments on the eve of the election—in which he first intimated and then made very clear in response to a follow up question that a Palestinian state will not be established while he is prime minister—were so troubling."
McDonough said the Obama administration will continue to oppose Israeli settlement expansion because "it undermines the prospects for peace."
He also made the case for what he called a "realistic and achievable" Iranian nuclear deal with Iran in some of the most frank comments on the subject by an Obama administration official.
"A scenario where Iran forgoes domestic enrichment capacity for all time would surely be ideal, but it's not grounded in reality. Not even our closest partners support denying Iran the ability to pursue peaceful nuclear energy forever, and Iran already knows how to enrich uranium. We can't turn back the clock on that. An absolutist position makes for good rhetoric, but as Ambassador Rice said, 'sound bites won't stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.'
"The bottom line is this—compared to the alternatives, diplomacy offers the best and most effective way to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, and this is our best shot at diplomacy."
It's all part of a White House push to keep the possibility of a nuclear deal alive and not have it tabled by Congress.
Monica Lewinsky Redefines Her Story In Anti-Cyberbullying TED Talk
NPR's Audie Cornish speaks with Jessica Bennett, contributor to The New York Times, about Monica Lewinsky's efforts to rebrand herself as an anti-cyberbullying activist.
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Copyright © 2015 NPR. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to NPR. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.
Chief Of Staff Slams Netanyahu In Defending Two-State Solution
Speaking to a liberal Jewish group Monday, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough reiterated the administration's support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Copyright © 2015 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
Copyright © 2015 NPR. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to NPR. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.
Canadian-Born Cruz Faces Potential Hurdle To Presidential Aspirations
NPR's Robert Siegel interviews Sarah H. Duggin, a professor of law at Catholic University, about how the U.S. Constitution's "natural born" citizenship requirement for someone to become president would apply to Sen. Ted Cruz.
Copyright © 2015 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
Copyright © 2015 NPR. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to NPR. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.
Sen. Ted Cruz Becomes First Republican To Announce Presidential Candidacy
Texas Sen. Cruz became the first official candidate for president in the 2016 election Monday. In a speech at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., Cruz said, "God isn't done with America yet."
Copyright © 2015 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
Copyright © 2015 NPR. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to NPR. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.
Supreme Court Declines Challenge To Strict Wisconsin Voter ID Law
"This is just one more development in the ongoing debate about voter identification, but it is by no means the last word," the ACLU's Dale Ho said. J. Scott Applewhite/AP hide caption
itoggle caption J. Scott Applewhite/AP
"This is just one more development in the ongoing debate about voter identification, but it is by no means the last word," the ACLU's Dale Ho said.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision Monday not to hear a case involving the constitutionality of Wisconsin's strict voter ID requirement shifts attention now to voter identification laws working their way through the courts in Texas and North Carolina.
As in Wisconsin, these laws are being challenged on the grounds that they hurt minorities and other voters who are less likely to have the required government-issued photo ID. It's possible — depending on what happens in the lower courts — that the Supreme Court could be asked to weigh in on one or both of these cases before the 2016 presidential election.
In the meantime, the Wisconsin law is now set to go into effect, although the state's attorney general, Brad Schimel, said that won't happen until after state elections are held April 7th.
"Absentee ballots are already in the hands of voters, therefore, the law cannot be implemented for the April 7 election," Schimel said in a statement issued shortly after the Supreme Court's announcement. "The Voter ID law will be in place for future elections — this decision is final."
Six states had a strict government-issued photo ID requirement in effect last year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. That does not include the Wisconsin, North Carolina and Texas laws, which were not in effect. A few other states, including Nevada, are also considering new voter ID laws.
Wisconsin's ID law has been the subject of litigation ever since it was passed by the state's Republican-controlled legislature in 2011. Proponents said the law was needed to prevent voter fraud, although there has been little evidence of voter impersonation at the polls.
Opponents argued that the law was unconstitutional because some 300,000 state voters lack a government-issued photo ID. A federal judge agreed, but his decision was overturned by a federal appeals court last October. The Supreme Court temporarily blocked the law from going into effect, however, amid concerns that voters in last November's elections would be confused by the last-minute change.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which challenged the Wisconsin law, is now weighing it's options, according to Dale Ho, director of the group's Voting Rights Project. The Supreme Court's refusal to hear the case merely allows the federal appeals court ruling upholding the law to stand, Ho said.
"It doesn't preclude future challenges to that law on the basis of other legal theories, or challenges to particular aspects of the law," Ho told NPR. He noted, for example, that Veterans Administration identification cards, which include photos, are not allowed as acceptable forms of voter ID in Wisconsin — indicating that might be one possible avenue for challenge.
"This is just one more development in the ongoing debate about voter identification, but it is by no means the last word," Ho said. "The Supreme Court didn't say that Wisconsin's voter ID law was constitutional or unconstitutional. It just declined to take the case, which means that it's still an open question in the U.S. Supreme Court whether or not these kinds of very strict ID laws violate federal law."
That's one reason he and others are closely watching what happens next in Texas and North Carolina. A federal trial on North Carolina's law, which requires photo ID in 2016, is scheduled for this summer. A challenge to the Texas law is pending before a federal appeals court.
But Rick Hasen, who studies election law at the University of California Irvine School of Law, said that betting on the Texas case to topple other state ID laws could be risky. He noted that a trial judge found the Texas law unconstitutional, in part, because it was enacted with the intention — as compared to just having the effect — of discriminating against minority voters.
Hasen added if the high court ends up striking down the Texas law for that reason, the decision might not have an impact on laws, such as Wisconsin's, where no intentional discrimination has been found.
Being Biden: The 5th Anniversary of the Affordable Care Act
The Vice President sent the following message to the White House email list today, sharing his personal audio reflections on the five-year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act. Didn't get the email? Make sure you're on the list to receive them in the future.
Today marks five years since 11-year-old Marcelas Owens and I watched the President sign the Affordable Care Act into law.
Marcelas lost his mom to an illness when he was a younger boy. She didn't have insurance, so she couldn't afford the care that she needed. No family -- no child -- in America should have to go through what his family has experienced.
That's why we fought so hard for this reform bill. That's why the President -- whose own mother argued with insurance companies in her final days as she battled cancer -- signed this bill into law.
And that's worth remembering today.
Israel steps up military drills on Lebanon border
As Netanyahu wins, the U.S. disengages
Benjamin Netanyahu’s victory in Israel’s general elections means that any hope of serious negotiations between...
Ministry probes infant death in Mount Lebanon nursery
Lebanon to enhance ski safety after teen death
Tourism Minister Michel Pharaon announced Tuesday that new measures would be taken to ensure greater safety for skiers...
Promoting Skills and Training for Low-Income Workers
Last year, the President directed Vice President Biden to lead a review of federal job training programs in order to identify and implement steps to make these programs more “job-driven” and responsive to the needs of employers. The idea was that -- even as the economy continues to recover, with more open jobs than at any point since 2001 -- we need to do more to make sure that we are giving workers the skills they need to compete for those jobs. This is core to the President’s vision for “middle-class economics,” in which Americans who are unemployed or in low-wage jobs have the opportunity to train and find jobs that create pathways to the middle-class.
Friday, as part of this effort, Secretaries Vilsack and Perez announced $200 million for projects designed to identify the most effective strategies to help participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) improve their skills and find jobs.
No president, no loan: French official to Lebanon
French minister meets Syrians in Sidon
A French minister on Sunday toured Sidon’s Ouzai complex, which hosts hundreds of Syrian families, reiterating her...
Ted Cruz Makes It Official
Ted Cruz speaking at Liberty University Monday. Getty Images hide caption
itoggle caption Getty Images
Ted Cruz speaking at Liberty University Monday.
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And they're off.
After a midnight tweet, Cruz tied together the American Revolution, nostalgia for a better time, and an appeal to social conservatives in his official kickoff speech at Liberty University in Virginia.
"God's blessing has been on America from the beginning of this nation, and I believe God isn't done with America yet," Cruz said at the Christian evangelical university founded by preacher Jerry Falwell. "I believe in you; I believe in the power of millions of courageous conservatives to reignite the power of America.
"And that is why today I am announcing that I am running for president of the United States."
Cruz also noted in his speech, which was heavy on biography, that "roughly half of born-again Christians aren't voting. They're staying home. Imagine instead millions of people of faith going out to the polls and voting our values."
Cruz's appeal is a clear indication of the path he is trying to carve out to try and win the nomination — and it goes through Iowa and South Carolina. He trails in early presidential polling, but he hopes his appeal to the Tea Party, religious conservatives, and his tenacity at trying to win an argument can propel him ahead.
Cruz painted a picture of what a country with a President Cruz might look like — one where:
- college graduates are getting half a dozen job offers;
- regulators and tax collectors are "kept at bay;"
- the country would be energy self-sufficient;
- Obamacare would be repealed, but there would be health care that was "portable" and affordable;
- the IRS would be abolished;
- borders secure;
- gun rights protected;
- the "sacrament of marriage" would be upheld;
- Common Core would be no more;
- "school choice" would be "the civil rights issue of the next generation";
- The U.S. would stand "unapologetically with Israel";
- Iran wouldn't be allowed to get a nuclear weapon;
- and the U.S. would "stand up and defeat Islamic terrorism — and we will call it by its name."
Hezbollah offers Wahhab support after Siniora suit
BEIRUT: Hezbollah Monday offered its support to Tawhid party chief Wiam Wahhab who is facing a lawsuit for calling former premier Fouad Siniora an Israeli agent.
“We see and hear the voices that speak the dirty language of sectarian strife, and we consider these voices and policies to be serving the projects of the enemies,” Ibrahim as-Sayyed, the head of Hezbollah’s Political Council, said Monday after visiting Wahhab, in reference to Siniora.
Siniora recently came under fire by March 8 figures after launching a scathing attack on Hezbollah and its intervention in Syria, accusing the party of destabilizing Lebanon.
The visit came four days after Siniora filed a lawsuit against Wahhab, accusing him of defamation and slander.
In an interview with Al-Jadeed last week, Wahhab said: “When you listen to Fouad Siniora, you would say that this man is part of the Israeli project.”
He went on to say that “the only way Siniora could become prime minister is if the Israeli plan succeeds in the region.”
Sayyed praised Wahhab and his pro-resistance stance.
“Wahhab is not only a supporter of the resistance, but he is one of the resistance’s [most valued allies],” he said.
“That said, it is very normal that, from time to time, to have mutual visits to exchange opinions and thoughts.”
Is Ted Cruz Allowed To Run Since He Was Born In Canada?
Canadian athletes hold up the national flag during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Sen. Ted Cruz was born in Calgary, and some question his eligibility to run for president in the U.S. Darron Cummings/AP hide caption
itoggle caption Darron Cummings/AP
Canadian athletes hold up the national flag during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Sen. Ted Cruz was born in Calgary, and some question his eligibility to run for president in the U.S.
Darron Cummings/AP
There will be a question from some about Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's eligibility to run for president.
That's because even though Cruz grew up in Texas, he was born in Canada. (He renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2013.)
Democrats are sure to remind voters of Cruz's Canadian birth since some on the right have questioned where President Obama was born. The president is a native of Hawaii.
Sen. Ted Cruz says because his mother was born in the United States that makes him a "natural born citizen" and eligible to run for president. Scott Olson/Getty Images hide caption
itoggle caption Scott Olson/Getty Images
Sen. Ted Cruz says because his mother was born in the United States that makes him a "natural born citizen" and eligible to run for president.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
The U.S. Constitution says presidential candidates have to be "natural-born citizens." But the Supreme Court has never weighed in with a definition, leaving it open to interpretation.
It's a question that has come up before. In 2008, senators passed a resolution, making it clear, for example, that John McCain was allowed to run given that he was born on a U.S. military base in the Panama Canal Zone. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, both senators then, voted for it.
Barry Goldwater, the 1964 GOP nominee, was born in Arizona when it was a territory – not a state. And some questioned George Romney's eligibility to run in 1968, because he was born in Mexico. Romney's parents were U.S. residents.
Cruz's parents worked in the oil industry in Calgary, Canada, when he was born. His mother was born in the United States. His father was born in Cuba, but later became a U.S. resident. Cruz argues that because his mother was born in Delaware, he is, in fact, a "natural-born citizen."
Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution states, "No Person except a natural born Citizen...shall be eligible to the Office of President." U.S. Constitution hide caption
itoggle caption U.S. Constitution
And most legal scholars agree. In fact, two of the best-known Supreme Court lawyers – who are not normally on the same side – make the case that Cruz – as well as McCain, George Romney and Goldwater – is eligible to run.
Neal Katyal, who served as acting solicitor general in the Obama administration, and Paul Clement, who was solicitor general under George W. Bush, wrote earlier this month in the Harvard Law Review that "there is no question" Cruz is eligible.
They cite that because Cruz's mother was a U.S. citizen and his father was a U.S. resident, "Cruz has been a citizen from birth and is thus a 'natural born Citizen' within the meaning of the Constitution" and the "Naturalization Act of 1790."
They also point to British common law and enactments by the First Congress, both of which have been cited by the Supreme Court.
Both confirm that the original meaning of the phrase "natural born Citizen" includes persons born abroad who are citizens from birth based on the citizenship of a parent. As to the British practice, laws in force in the 1700s recognized that children born outside of the British Empire to subjects of the Crown were subjects themselves and explicitly used "natural born" to encompass such children. These statutes provided that children born abroad to subjects of the British Empire were "natural-born Subjects . . . to all Intents, Constructions, and Purposes whatsoever."
The Framers, of course, would have been intimately familiar with these statutes and the way they used terms like "natural born," since the statutes were binding law in the colonies before the Revolutionary War. They were also well documented in Blackstone's Commentaries, a text widely circulated and read by the Framers and routinely invoked in interpreting the Constitution.
No doubt informed by this longstanding tradition, just three years after the drafting of the Constitution, the First Congress established that children born abroad to U.S. citizens were U.S. citizens at birth, and explicitly recognized that such children were "natural born Citizens." The Naturalization Act of 1790 provided that "the children of citizens of the United States, that may be born beyond sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born citizens: Provided, That the right of citizenship shall not descend to persons whose fathers have never been resident in the United States ... ."
The actions and understandings of the First Congress are particularly persuasive because so many of the Framers of the Constitution were also members of the First Congress. That is particularly true in this instance, as eight of the eleven members of the committee that proposed the natural born eligibility requirement to the Convention served in the First Congress and none objected to a definition of "natural born Citizen" that included persons born abroad to citizen parents.
Katyal and Clement conclude, "There are plenty of serious issues to debate in the upcoming presidential election cycle. The less time spent dealing with specious objections to candidate eligibility, the better. Fortunately, the Constitution is refreshingly clear on these eligibility issues."
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Media Dissect Sen. Ted Cruz's Presidential Prospects
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, arrives Sunday for a walk-through for his speech today where he will launch his campaign for president at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. Andrew Harnik/AP hide caption
itoggle caption Andrew Harnik/AP
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, arrives Sunday for a walk-through for his speech today where he will launch his campaign for president at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.
Andrew Harnik/AP
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, announced his bid for the presidency with a tweet early this morning, becoming the first major Republican to declare that he is running.
As NPR's Domenico Montanaro reported: "Since bursting onto the scene in 2012 after his GOP primary upset victory against a former Texas lieutenant governor, Cruz has struck out not just against President Obama and Democrats, but also Republican leaders."
The Houston Chronicle, which first reported Cruz's imminent announcement on Sunday, said the Texas senator's early focus will be money and the caucuses. The Washington Post's Fix blog called Cruz the most underrated candidate in the 2016 field. And today the paper reports:
"Cruz's unrepentant battles against the Obama administration and with leaders of his own party have made him a hero to many conservatives and left him with a powerful national network of small-dollar donors. He will aim to raise $40 million to $50 million for his presidential bid.
"Advisers said that in coming weeks, as he launches his campaign in states with early caucuses and primaries, Cruz plans to build upon that base of support and cast himself as an uncompromising GOP conservative who has challenged both parties during his short time in Washington."
The Wall Street Journal says: "Mr. Cruz's early presence in the field could pressure other potential candidates to move to the political right on fiscal policy, social issues and on the tactics for pursuing policy goals, particularly among contenders who are trying to establish themselves as the leading conservative alternative to Mr. Bush." And the paper adds: "But Mr. Cruz's Republican critics say he is too polarizing to be a strong general election candidate."
The American Conservative is less complimentary, saying: "Like many other Republican would-be 2016 candidacies, a Cruz presidential bid doesn't have a realistic chance of succeeding, but then Cruz has already shown during his very brief stint in office that success in achieving tangible results is not what interests him.
"Cruz likes to present himself as the most committed opponent of Obama's agenda, and it makes no difference that his stunts and tactics have had absolutely no success in making a dent in that agenda. What counts for him is demonstrating the intensity of his opposition and pandering to voters that care a lot more about affect than they do about policy substance."
The New York Times notes that Cruz maybe the first Republican candidate to declare his intention, but it's certainly likely to be a crowded field in 2016. The newspaper says:
"Mr. Cruz's first challenge is finding a way to stand out in Iowa, where the possible Republican field includes the winners of the last two caucuses, former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, as well as [Wisconsin Gov.] Mr. Walker, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, former Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, the neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana."
Cruz will make a formal announcement later today at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.
You can read more of NPR's coverage of this story here:
What You Need To Know About Ted Cruz
5 Reasons Cruz Announced His Candidacy Early
Republican Thorn Ted Cruz Announces Run For President
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What You Need To Know About Ted Cruz
Sen. Ted Cruz speaks at the International Association of Firefighters forum in Washington earlier this month. Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP hide caption
itoggle caption Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP
Sen. Ted Cruz speaks at the International Association of Firefighters forum in Washington earlier this month.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz announced his bid for president early Monday. He has been making the rounds with other 2016 hopefuls, so it's hardly a surprise, but he's the first major one to make it official. And if the early campaign trail is any indication of how the race will play out, Cruz, 44, will be exactly who he's always been. He's relatively new to public office, elected to the Senate in 2012. But he has made his career — and attracted support from the right's base along the way — as a staunch defender of conservative values.
Here's what you need to know:
Canadian hockey fans cheer-on their team. Sen. Ted Cruz was born in Canada, but has renounced his Canadian citizenship. Anders Wiklund/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
itoggle caption Anders Wiklund/AFP/Getty Images
He was born in Canada.
Cruz was born to a Cuban father, who escaped during the revolution, and an American mother, who was the first in her family to go to college and who became a computer programmer in the 1950s. Because of Cruz's Canadian birth, some have questioned whether he qualifies to be president. Being a "natural born" citizen is one of the three eligibility requirements to be president laid out in the constitution.
But the weight of legal evidence supports that the term "natural born" also applies to people born abroad to U.S. citizen parents (which Cruz's mom was). Cruz considers Houston, where he was raised, his hometown.
He's was a top college debater at Princeton.
Here are some of the debate accolades Cruz raked in as an undergraduate at Princeton: National Championship Top Speaker, North American Debating Championship Top Speaker, Speaker of the Year and Team of the Year. His classmates at Princeton remember him, according to a 2013 profile, the way many see him today: smart, confident, firm on conservative principles and polarizing.
After Princeton, he went on to study at Harvard Law; his classmates from that time also remember him as a smart, but divisive guy with a hard edge.
He's argued before the Supreme Court nine times. Sometimes in cowboy boots.
From 1996-1997, Cruz was a law clerk to Chief Justice William Rehnquist. In 2003, Cruz was appointed solicitor general of Texas, becoming the youngest person in the nation appointed to such a post. In that capacity, he argued several cases before the Supreme Court and authored more than 80 Supreme Court briefs. As solicitor general, he defended Texas' death penalty, the constitutionality of the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance and the state's congressional redistricting map.
Cruz clerked at the U.S. Supreme Court for former Chief Justice William Rehnquist. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
itoggle caption Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
And about those cowboy boots — he has a pair called his "argument boots." He says he didn't wear them to the Supreme Court out of respect to his mentor, Justice Rehnquist, who was a stickler for proper attire. That changed after Rehnquist's death — he sought and was granted permission from Chief Justice John Roberts to wear the boots before the high court.
He won his Senate seat without prior experience in elective office.
Once considered a long-shot for Senate, Cruz quickly became a Tea Party favorite when he ran in a tough primary against Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. On the campaign trail in 2012, he fired up his base, conservative Tea Partiers disillusioned with government and unsatisfied with the direction of the country. "There is a great awakening that is sweeping this country," he said at the time. His win was called the biggest of the year for Tea Party activists.
He spoke for 21 hours on the Senate floor.
Cruz was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012. Less than one year in, he commandeered the Senate floor to oppose President Obama's health care law. "I intend to speak in opposition to Obamacare; I intend to speak in support of defunding Obamacare until I am no longer able to stand," he said. Cruz's crusade, which attracted wide attention, advocated a government shutdown unless Democrats compromised on the law. Days later, Congress remained locked over Obamacare provisions, and the government partially shut down for more than two weeks.
During his tenure, he's developed a reputation for throwing down the gauntlet against congressional Republican leaders over issues like health care, the federal budget and, most recently, immigration. And this year, he's already been blasting his fellow Republican presidential hopefuls, like Jeb Bush and Chris Christie, accusing them of not standing up for true conservative values.
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