Attorney General Eric Holder says that both he and President Barack Obama support the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, which will extend federal protection against crimes based on sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, and disability. (0:33)
By Learned Foote- Talk Radio News Service
Attorney General Eric Holder urged Congress Thursday to pass the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, a bill that would expand the authority of the federal government to prosecute hate crimes, and include “gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability” in the protected classes.
“Perpetrators of hate crimes seek to deny the humanity that we all share, regardless of the color of our skin, the God to whom we pray, or the person who we choose to love,” said Holder during testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee
Holder noted that a similar bill reached Congress in 1998, but has never passed. “The legislation has been stalled far too long, and it’s time to act,” said committee chairman Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.).
The bill is named after Matthew Shepard, a gay man from Wyoming who was brutally killed in 1998.
Several senators asked whether the legislation would violate the First Amendment, which protects free speech. Holder said that only crimes involving “bodily injury” fall under the scope of this legislation, and even the incitement of violence would not be prosecuted under the bill.
“We’re looking at people who actually commit physical acts of violence,” said Holder. “However deplorable … speech with which I would vehemently disagree [is] not cognizable under the statute.”
Republican Senators repeatedly criticized Holder for not providing statistics or documenting a trend indicating that state and local authorities do not sufficiently address these crimes. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) noted that the Shepard murder was a “crime that should have been vigorously prosecuted, and it was.”
Holder responded that “what we’re looking for is an ability in those instances, those rare instances, where there is an inability or unwillingness by state or local jurisdiction to proceed, that the federal government…would be able to fill that gap.”
Sessions also expressed concern about “how [the U.S. is] picking and choosing the people who receive the extra protection” afforded by hate crime legislation. Holder replied that such laws should “protect groups of people who are … the subjects of violence simply because of who they are.”
By Michael Combier – Talk Radio News Service
Attorney General Eric Holder and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the formation of a new interagency effort, the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), to fight against Medicare and Medicaid fraud around the country. Holder and Sebelius also announced this afternoon the expansion of the Strike Force Team to Detroit and Houston. This Strike Team was already operating in South Florida and Los Angeles to fight Medicare fraud on a local level.
“This is part of the administration’s ongoing commitment to fiscal responsibility and accountability and putting the best minds and resources together to combat fraud and return much needing dollars into the United States’ Treasury”, said Attorney General Holder adding that when “individuals and corporations cross the line and defraud the public, we will hold them accountable.”
“The Obama administration and the American people will not stand by while criminals and health care fraud perpetrators steal from the Medicare and the Medicaid programs”, said Secretary Sebelius. “A Small but significant number of criminals and bad operators are cheating the system and costing taxpayers billions of dollars.”
Senior officials from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and HHS will integrate the HEAT team to strengthen the existing programs fighting against fraud. HEAT will not only go against unlawful practices but will also prevent fraud, waste and abuse from happening the first place. The new program will be helped by a joint DOJ-HHS Medicare Fraud Strike Force teams which have successfully fought against fraud perpetrators in South Florida and Los Angeles. In the former, the Strike Force convicted 146 defendants and succeeding in securing $186 million while in the latter, started in May 2008, 37 individuals have been charged with criminal health care fraud offenses resulting in $55 million being restored to the Medicare program.
The Attorney General and the HHS Secretary pointed out that HEAT will work with Congress to work on legislation making it more difficult for fraud perpetrators to use the taxpayers money. The American taxpayers are called upon by Sebelius “to blow the whistle on thieves and criminals who are stealing from all of us.”
Attorney General Eric Holder discusses about the offense against Medicare fraud orchestrated by the Justice of Department and the Department of Health and Human Services. (0:26)
By Courtney Ann Jackson-Talk Radio News Service
Attorney General Eric Holder tells the crowd, including the survivors of the fallen officers, at the National Peace Officers’ Memorial Service, what he has learned from this year’s Police Week. (0:50)
By Courtney Ann Jackson-Talk Radio News Service
A unified approach to closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay will be crucial in order to meet the one-year deadline signed into law in January by President Obama, according to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who testified before the House Judiciary Committee Thursday.
Holder said the Department has “no choice but to release” some of the detainees. He said they must be released because otherwise an order from the In terms of release, we have to release them or an order from the U.S. courts would be defied.
The Department of Justice is taking the lead from the work set out by President Barack Obama to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and ensure that the policies going forward “live up to our nation’s value,” said Holder.
The Guantanamo Review Task Force will make decisions about where detainees will be housed on an individual basis. Holder said that Task Force’s decisions will be guided by “what is in the interest of national security, the foreign policy interests of the United States and the interests of justice.”
Ranking Member U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) said “the President has announced the closure of Guantanamo Bay without any plan for the terrorists detained there and has admitted that he cannot guarantee that those detainees who are released will not seek to attack our country again.”
In response, Holder reiterated that the Department isn’t going “to do anything, anything that would put the American people at risk. Nothing.”
By Courtney Ann Jackson-Talk Radio News Service
Attorney General Eric Holder discusses the changes being made to the Department of Justice. The top priority remains to be the safety of the American public but the Department is currently pursuing a very specific set of goals.(0:51)
Attorney General Eric Holder explains how he believes that the composition of the Supreme Court should reflect the rest of society. This means that their should be more minorities represented on the court. (0:25)
Attorney General Eric Holder discusses the qualifications that he believes the next Supreme Court Justice will have. He believes that President Obama ought to choose a lawyer, but no necessarily a judge. (0:24)
By Celia Canon Talk Radio News Service
It is still unclear whether prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility will be transferred to military prisons in the United States. That was the message given to top members of Congress today by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who testified for two hours before the Committee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies to discuss Department of Justice budget priorities.
Closing the prison “require(s) immediate interagency action,” Holder said. “While implementing these (Presidential) orders, the Department will take necessary precautions to ensure decisions regarding Guantanamo detainees account for (the) safety concerns of all Americans. Executing these orders will have a significant workload and cost impact on the Department and this budget reflects what is needed.”
In January, President Barack Obama announced that he will fulfill his campaign promise to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. The facility is slated to close within a year of Obama’s announcement, and it is up to the Justice Department to find detention locations for the prisoners, most of whom have been imprisoned for years as suspected terrorists.
The Committee was concerned with Holder’s $30 million request to close the prison, perhaps because Holder did not confirm or deny his authority to allow the detainees to be transferred and housed in the U.S.
Committee Chair Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) said DOJ is suffering from a lack of morale and trust. “I want to know how the Department of Justice has improved accountability of taxpayer dollars so that every dollar spent to secure our communities is a dollar well spent… Spending excesses will not be tolerated.”
Ranking Member Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said that “the very idea of taking money from victims and law enforcing officers to educate and comfort terrorists, pedophiles and career criminals, I think, is an abomination.”
Critics of Obama’s decision fear that housing suspected terrorists on U.S. soil opens the country to terrorist attacks.
On the safety of Americans, who could potentially live near former Guantanamo detainees, Mikulski said that while international law must be upheld, “we have to make sure that streets and neighborhoods don’t think that they are going to be the repository of Guantanamo prisoners.”
Holder replied: “I will work to strengthen the activities of the federal government to protect the American people from terrorism. I will use every available tactic to defeat our adversaries, and I will do so within the letter and the spirit of our Constitution.”
