There are no Guatamalans on those buses

This morning I had a thought: What about those kids from Central America? Whether you agree or disagree with them being here, they ARE here. And for me, I want them in school rather than running around the streets or sitting in a room playing Call of Duty for 7 hours straight.

When kids are in school, they are less likely to get into trouble and/or be injured. Because they are in a relatively safe environment, being watched over, educated (even fed breakfast and lunch) and cared for by adults who care about them (yay Teachers!).

But ARE these new kids going to be in school or not? School starts here in 8 weeks. Elsewhere in the country, sooner.

California law says they have 90 days from start of school to get their School Entry Health Examination Requirement met. There is also an Oral Health Requirement that says kids are supposed to get checked out by a Dentist. Do the health screenings being done at the Border Patrol facilities and various ‘detention/shelter in place’ facilities meet the the California law requirement?

I decided to ask my Congressional representatives this question specifically (after I told them my name and where I lived):

ME: What is the process and/or mechanisms in place to make sure all these kids coming to San Diego (and elsewhere) are ready for school that begins in 8 weeks, and do the HHS screenings meet California requirements?

I now offer you the responses I received from their Staff Assistants (SA) when I called their offices:

Congresswoman Susan B. Davis D-San Diego

Me: What is the process and/or mechanisms in place to make sure all these kids coming to San Diego (and elsewhere) are ready for school that begins in 8 weeks, and do the HHS screenings meet California requirements?

SA: These kids are here because of a law passed in 2008 before Obama was president.

Me: Ok well I am not concerned about their legal status I am concerned about how all these kids are going to get processed within the next 8 weeks so they can start school. What is Congresswoman Davis’ position on whether they will be in school in 8 weeks?

SA: She’s talking with all of the appropriate people to find a resolution that works best.

Me: What people is she speaking with exactly?

SA: Border Patrol, people like that.

Me: Okay well do you know if the Federal Health Screening process meets the California requirement and what about the Oral Health care requirement?

SA: No, but she is working with all sides to find a resolution.

Me: Got it. But what about the kids in the detention facilities who are not processed within the next couple of months, how are they going to go to school?

SA: We are trying to determine their legal status right now.

Me: Right. But regardless of legal status, school starts in 8 weeks, what will they be doing in the meantime while you are trying to determine their legal status?

SA: Congresswoman Davis is working hard to find a resolution and is taking feedback from constituents.

Me: Okay well my feedback is that I would like to know if thousands of kids are going to be in school or not in 8 weeks?

SA: She is working hard to find a resolution.

Me: I see. (banging my head on the counter) Has anyone asked this question about these kids and school?

SA: No. You are the first.

Congressman Duncan Hunter R-Alpine

Me: What is the process and/or mechanisms in place to make sure all these kids coming to San Diego (and elsewhere) are ready for school that begins in 8 weeks, and do the HHS health Screenings meet California requirements?

SA: It’s unknown if Federal Health Screenings meet California requirements. As far as we know there’s no plan to integrate the children into the fall 2014 school system though.

Me: So these kids are not going to be in school this fall at all?

SA: That is unknown for sure. Nobody has actually asked that question.

Me: Well, do you think you could bring that up to Congressman Hunter?

SA: Yes, definitely. Can I get your name and contact info?

Congressman Darrel Issa, R-Vista

ME: What is the process and/or mechanisms in place to make sure all these kids coming to San Diego (and elsewhere) are ready for school that begins in 8 weeks, and do the HHS screenings meet California requirements?

SA: Have not heard that question and we don’t know, but Congressman Issa has called on President Obama to reverse his DACA policy, that is the policy that allows (I cut him off)

Me: Yes I know what that policy is but my question is about what happens in 8 weeks when school starts?

SA: Well. I don’t know.

Me: Do you think you could pass along that question to Congressman Issa? Because school starts in 8 weeks.

SA: Yes, yes I will.

Congressman Scott Peters, D-San Diego

ME: What is the process and/or mechanisms in place to make sure all these kids coming to San Diego (and elsewhere) are ready for school that begins in 8 weeks, and do the HHS screenings meet California requirements?

SA: Not sure. Nobody’s asked that question, but they will be released to sponsor families in SD then go through the normal screening process that way.

Me: What about the kids who don’t get sponsors?

SA: I’m not sure.

Me: Do you think you could pass along that question to Congressman Peters? Because school starts in 8 weeks.

SA: Yes, thank you for bringing it up

Congressman Juan Vargas, D-San Diego

ME: What is the process and/or mechanisms in place to make sure all these kids coming to San Diego (and elsewhere) are ready for school that begins in 8 weeks, and do the HHS screenings meet California requirements?

SA: That question hasn’t come up, I don’t have an answer at this time.

ME: Didn’t Congressman Vargas just visit a detention facility?

SA: Yes he did

ME: Do you think next time he visits he could maybe ask somebody about it?

SA: I will pass on your question. Can I have your contact info?

Senator Diane Feinstein D-California

ME: What is the process and/or mechanisms in place to make sure all these kids coming to San Diego (and elsewhere) are ready for school that begins in 8 weeks, and do the HHS screenings meet California requirements?

SA: I have no idea, but if you give me your contact info I will get back to you.

(Still waiting)

Senator Barbara Boxer, D-California

ME: What is the process and/or mechanisms in place to make sure all these kids coming to San Diego (and elsewhere) are ready for school that begins in 8 weeks, and do the HHS screenings meet California requirements?

SA: The HHS has a pretty comprehensive screening process, but I don’t know if they’re up to California standards.

ME: Has anyone asked this question?

SA: Yes, we are asking all kinds of questions.

Me: But so far no answers to it?

SA: Well the children in the Detention facilities will be taught by contractors.

Me: Contractors? Are they certified teachers?

SA: The care of the children in these facilities are being contracted out to various groups, and it is their responsibility to teach them.

Me: What about the kids who aren’t in the detention facilities?

SA: They will be screened and then released and must report to immigration within 15 days.

Me: What if they don’t report back?

SA: Well there are very few children being sent to San Diego.

Me: I just saw busloads of people being processed at San Ysidro which is in SD County.

SA: But very few are going to San Diego compared to other places. There aren’t any Guatemalans.

ME: Excuse me? What do you mean?

SA: Those aren’t Central Americans being processed there, there are very few Guatemalans in San Diego.

Me: I’m not sure what that has to do with anything? And I guess I will let my friends from Guatemala here know they aren’t really here??

SA: I didn’t say there were NO Guatemalans in San Diego, just that there isn’t a large community of them in San Diego like in Maryland.

ME: Ok so the kids at the detention facilities will get taught by contractors while being detained and the rest are just on their own?

SA: We are asking these same questions.

Let’s all bang our heads together…

Kiss a Vet

Yesterday and last night while babies were being birthed and 21 year olds were out celebrating their legality to drink with shots called “Adios Mutherfucker”, our Congress was hard at work deciding what we as a country should spend (meaning how much more money we gotta print to keep us afloat because we all know we are out of real money), and how much and where we should cut back in order to not print as much money.

Last night the Senate decided to go ahead and vote on the 2013 Bipartisan Budget Act later this week.

Before the Senate voted on whether or not to vote on it (yes, that is how the legislative process works), they debated on what should be in the bill.

Like how much money should our veterans get?

Wrap your head around this:

The Bill CUTS military pensions by $6 BILLION.

This means that Vets who served our country will help us all out (again). It’s called “taking one for the team” in some circles.

Senator Jeff Sessions, a Republican from Alabama, tried to get an amendment to the Bill passed that unwrote these cuts to the military. His idea was that somebody else should take one for the team. He suggested that instead of our vets taking the hit, how about people who don’t have a social security number, yet still get tax breaks, be the ones to help us all out?

You may wonder how it is a person without a social security card can file taxes at all??

Well, they can and there is a loophole that allows them to file for child tax credits using an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number rather than a Social Security Number. By coincidence, it turns out a lot of people who use this loophole are not here in the USA legally.

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration noted in a 2011 report that millions of people without valid Social Security numbers received a staggering $4.2 BILLION from the IRS in the additional child tax credit in 2010 – up from $924 MILLION in 2005. (For those of you not good in math, that’s a lot of money as well as a really big increase).

Sessions argued that without his amendment, the Bill unfairly sticks veterans and other military retirees with the cost of new spending while allowing those who are here illegally to get a tax break. In addition, Sessions noted that the Bill also spares current civilian workers from the cuts the Vets are being assigned. So basically, everyone at the IRS is safe from these cuts. Whew. At least we got that going for us.

He tried to force the Senate to vote on including his amendment in the Bill before the entire Bill is voted on later this week.

Democrats, however, blocked the vote.

And many Republicans, including Paul Ryan, got down right nasty about Sessions bringing this up at all. They argued that the only reason Sessions was being defiant and standing in the gap for veterans was because he wanted to shut down the government and kill the whole bill. These Republicans are sick and tired of being shoved around by the likes of the Tea Party and they want to go “Forward” and want people like Sessions to shut the hell up.

Now we all know that every white person from Alabama is a flaming racist. And, of course, this means their representatives in Congress are as well. Plus, we know the GOP has no heart and hates anyone who isn’t a bible thumpin white boy with particular disdain for diversity; and they also have issues with people who come here trying to escape political and economic oppression in order to make a better life for themselves…

We also know that the Democratic party is the party of Hope and Change, and they love all people of color and diversity and the poor; and they are the party with a heart who helps the poor and minorities stand up against those horrible GOPers. They have been trying forever to get the Party of NO (that’s the GOP) to stop screwing over these groups.

Right?

On a near party line vote, Sessions’ amendment failed by 46-54. Sen. Key Hagan, a Democrat from North Carolina was the only Democrat to vote for not cutting the Vets’ money.

So, obviously the Sessions amendment was racist and xenophobic because why would Democrats in the Senate and newly reformed Republicans in the House be so against it?

In reality, our vets come from diverse backgrounds and turns out a whole bunch of them are not rich, white boys. Sessions’ bill would have HELPED all of our Vets including those minorities that served.

But this is politics, folks.

So later this week, the Senate will most likely pass the 2013 Bipartisan Budget Act, and then it will be signed by the President.

It will allow our government to continue printing money and spending it like a teenage girl on a shopping spree at the mall with her rich (white) Daddy’s credit card until 2015.

It gives our illustrious leaders some breathing room and the ability to enjoy the Holidays knowing that come fall 2014, voters will not have fresh in their mind “Government Shut Down”.

It doesn’t seem to matter that our Vets are going to have to eat it in order for our representatives to feel better.

“I’m hopeful that this deal can be just the first of many bipartisan deals, that it can rebuild some of the trust, bring Democrats and Republicans together, and demonstrate that government can work for the people we all represent,” Senator Patty Murray said in a speech on the Senate floor before the vote.

What a frightening thought that is.

This is what happens when common sense gets in the way of the political machine getting what they want. A merciful slaughter at the feet of our veterans.

So kiss a Vet the next time you see one, and thank him or her for taking one for the team.