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Registration opens for 2022-23 school year K-12 classes/programs at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate

BOSTON, May 18, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Civics, social studies, history, and other U.S. classroom teachers looking for a unique, memorable experience in civic education for their K-12 students are invited to explore the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senates "Senator for a Day" interactive education programs.

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Registration is now open for the 2022-23 school year for K-12 in-person and online classes and programs at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate in Boston. For the first time, Kennedy Institute offerings will be available at no charge for public-school students from all 50 U.S. states, and during Tuesday-Friday morning time slots in the Pacific and Mountain time zones. (Photo: Business Wire)

Registration for the 2022-23 school year is opening today to teachers and schools nationwide for both in-person visits at the Institutes beautiful, one-of-a-kind, full-scale replica of the U.S. Senate chamber and as online classes. Participation is now free of charge for public-school students from all 50 states.

Educational experiences at the Kennedy Institute use immersive role-play and simulation to teach civics and inspire our countrys next generation of leaders. Led by highly trained, nonpartisan instructors from the Kennedy Institute, students of all ages take on the role of a U.S. senator from a state of their choosing and help debate, shape, and vote on key legislation. Groups can choose from topics including immigration reform, voting rights, environmental justice, the Green New Deal, or updating the Electoral College. A two-minute video showing Kennedy Institute virtual education programs can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVr99Jq4toA .

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Since it opened in 2015, the Kennedy Institute has welcomed more than 100,000 students for in-person and online civic education programs and classes.

In the coming year, the Kennedy Institute is particularly focused on welcoming more students and teachers from the 44 states outside New England for online programming. Besides eliminating for this year all fees formerly charged for non-Massachusetts public-school students, Kennedy Institute staff will make every possible effort to accommodate time-zone differences when scheduling virtual sessions of 60 to 120 minutes in length.

"Over and over, we see how young people are engaged and inspired by taking on the role of U.S. senators and learning about the research, deliberation, and decision-making that go into producing legislation, said Sarah Yezzi, Kennedy Institute Director of Education, Family and Youth Programming.

Additionally, for students in kindergarten through 3rd grade, the Kennedy Institute offers the "Welcoming Words" program in which young learners hear about the history of the Statue of Liberty and the welcome that she offers to diverse new neighbors. As part of this program students create their own special welcoming art and collages.

Examples of feedback from teachers whove participated in online and in-person programs recently includes:

"Our recent visit to the EMK Institute was a huge success for both our 8th grade students and faculty. The staff was knowledgeable, friendly, and encouraging of our students. Their presentations were energetic, engaging, and completely unbiased."

"Being Senators for the day at the EMK is always the highlight of our study of the Constitution and learning about how our country functions. My 10th graders love the experience of sitting in the Senate chamber and debating bills!"

"My students [high school] were engaged and willing to challenge each other in conversation that would have been unlikely in a different setting. The presenters were experts in their content and at engaging students.

"The EMK Institute offers excellent programming for all ages. Their programming is well thought-out, engaging, and well-paced. They really know what they're doing!"

A full list of available 2022-23 programs and details on how to register is at https://www.emkinstitute.org/resources/visit-request-form Fees may apply for some private and non-Massachusetts schools, with significant tuition scholarships available.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220518005886/en/

Contacts

Media: Sarah Yezzi, Director of Education, Family and Youth Programming at the Kennedy Institute, press@emkinstitute.org

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Civic Education: Learning by Legislating at the Kennedy Institute - Yahoo Finance

Last summer, anti-immigration advocates mobilized in opposition to the resettlement of tens of thousands of Afghan refugees in the United States. It threatens the national security of the United States, wrote Stephen Miller, the former top Donald Trump adviser. Miller charged in another tweet that President Joe Biden had cruelly betrayed his oath of office by expediting the entry of Afghans fleeing the Taliban without, Miller said, proper vetting. A prominent immigration-restrictionist group issued a report warning of fraud and abuse in the nations refugee programs, and immigration hard-liners flooded conservative airwaves throughout the fall to denounce the administrations plans.

Then came another refugee crisis, this time in Ukraine. In March, Biden said the U.S. would admit up to 100,000 of the millions of Ukrainians who had left their country after the Russian invasion. The announcement was sure to provoke the outrage of the nations most ardent immigration foes, whose cries about an influx of refugees from a war-stricken region had barely faded from the news.

Except it didnt.

Anti-immigration advocates have been far quieter about the Biden administrations policy toward Ukrainian refugees than they were about its stance toward Afghan refugees. Whats more, the criticism they have leveled has had almost nothing to do with concerns about vetting or national security. Miller, for example, tweeted dozens of dire warnings about Afghan refugees during the summer and fall of 2021. He has also tweeted frequently about Ukraine since the crisis escalated at the beginning of this year, but not a single time about Bidens plan to accept 100,000 refugees. (Through a spokesperson, he declined an interview request.)

From the June 2022 issue: You cannot host guests forever

To the groups who resettle refugees in the U.S., the divergent responses from the political right are a stark but familiar example of the long-standing bias against immigrants from poor or predominantly Muslim countries in favor of those from Europe, who are predominantly white. Those attitudes are also reflected inand might contribute topublic opinion about Americas refugee policy. In a poll conducted last month for The Atlantic by Leger, 58 percent of respondents supported the U.S. accepting refugees from Ukraine, while just 46 percent backed admitting those from Afghanistan. Asked whether the U.S. should admit more refugees from one country than the other, 23 percent of respondents said the U.S. should take more people from Ukraine, while just 4 percent said the U.S. should accept more from Afghanistan, despite Americas two-decade involvement in the war there. Gallup found even broader support for admitting Ukrainian refugees, the highest for any refugee group it has polled about since 1939.

Americans get a certain amount of compassion fatigue for certain parts of the world that are chronically in turmoil, and no American alive today can ever remember a time of peace in the Middle East, Dan Stein, the president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group that seeks a reduction in overall immigration to the U.S., told me. Its also true that Ukraine has not been viewed routinely as a source of refugees, of political conflict, at least not in the modern world.

Senior officials with refugee-resettlement groups told me that they havent put much stock into the reaction of immigration hard-liners, because Republican governors and leaders in Congress have remained broadly supportive of accepting Afghan refugees. But they have sharply criticized the Biden administration for what they say is unequal treatment of refugees from Afghanistan and Ukraine. It certainly appears that Ukrainians are receiving special treatment, Adam Bates, a policy counsel for the International Refugee Assistance Project, told me.

Under its Uniting With Ukraine program, the Biden administration is waiving all fees associated with applying for humanitarian parole. By contrast, IRAP says, the U.S. government charged more than 40,000 applicants from Afghanistan as much as $575 to seek similar protection last summer. The government is also scrapping requirements that Ukrainians submit evidence that they were specifically targeted by the Russian military or President Vladimir Putin, whereas Afghan applicants must provide proof of individualized, targeted violence against them by the Taliban.

The White House declined to comment. The administration has touted its evacuation of more than 82,000 Afghans to the U.S., including many allies who helped the U.S. military during its 20-year war. In both crises, the government has sought to route many applicants around the official refugee and special-immigrant visa programs because they are so backlogged. Officials have said that the humanitarian parole that the U.S. is offering to Ukrainians lasts for only two years, which Bates took as a suggestion that the government assumes many refugees will want to stay in the country only temporarily. I asked him what he thought was the real reason the Biden administration was expediting the process for Ukrainians in ways it did not for Afghans. This is just speculating, he cautioned in his reply. But to me, I do not think that the influence of systemic racism and xenophobia in this country has been limited to just one party in the context of immigration.

The politics of immigration have bedeviled Biden from his first days in office. Republicans have accused him of countenancing a veritable invasion of the southern border by migrants and asylum seekers, while progressives criticized his decision to keep in place some Trump-administration policies reviled by immigrant advocates. Bidens critics on the right say his lax handling of the southern border has left the country stretched too thin to respond effectively to the humanitarian crises in Afghanistan and Ukraine. The problem is that resettling refugees takes work and money and infrastructure, which has been overwhelmed by all the illegal aliens who were using asylum as a gambit to get past the Border Patrol, Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the restrictionist Center for Immigration Studies, told me.

Read: The worlds refugee system is broken

Many others, however, say the U.S. has both the moral obligation and the capacity to open its doors to those fleeing war and persecution.

Conservatives who have raised alarms about resettling Afghan refugees say the need to vet them is stronger because the American invasion created enemies who could try to sneak into the U.S. to exact revenge. Theyve also warned about the cultural differences between Afghanistan and the U.S., highlighting reports of child trafficking by male evacuees who claim young girls as their brides.

Krikorian has assailed the nations refugee policy across the board and told me the U.S. could do more good simply by sending money overseas to help resettle evacuees in countries closer to their homeland. But he had harsher words for the Biden administrations pledge to admit refugees from Ukraine. We clearly have more obligation to Afghans than we do to Ukrainians, Krikorian said. At the same time, he said, individual Afghan refugees presented bigger security and cultural concerns than did Ukrainians. As an example, Krikorian referenced reports of widespread sexual abuse of young boys by members of the Afghan security forces made by members of the U.S. military during the war. I wouldnt say because of that, we dont take Afghans, but we do take Ukrainians, he said. But in individual cases, in doing vetting and assessing whether its a good idea to bring somebody into the United States, we definitely should take that into consideration.

Those reports and the stereotypes they feed may help explain why the public voices stronger support for refugees from Ukraine than from Afghanistan, and, on some level, why the government has treated them differently. But to those who work on behalf of refugees, they are beside the point. Of course, we need to vet immigrants who are coming into the U.S. to make sure that they are not a threat to the American public. But we need to do that consistently, Krish OMara Vignarajah, the president of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, told me. Both populations have strong rationales for seeking refuge here in the U.S. We shouldnt pit one population against the other.

See the article here:
The Silence of the Right on Ukrainian Refugees - The Atlantic

Midstate Democrats were bitterly disappointed in 2018 and 2020 after throwing moderates from election central casting up against incumbent U.S. Rep. Scott Perry in a Pennsylvania House district that had been redrawn to be much more politically competitive, only to see the lightning rod incumbent send them to costly defeats.

Democratic Party voters opted for a new approach Tuesday, granting their 10th District nomination to Harrisburg attorney and city council member Shamaine Daniels, a woman and a person of color who is less concerned about reaching the voters that are already committed to Perry or committed to his defeat than she is about reaching pools of voters who havent shown up before.

On the day after her primary win over retired Army officer Rick Coplen, Daniels was realistic about the task ahead.

Its not an unwinnable race. It is a difficult race to win, the 43-year-old Venezuelan immigrant and mother of one told PennLive Wednesday.

Daniels said she hopes to build a winning game plan by attracting support from a broad coalition of supporters - including out-of-district donors motivated by a desire to defeat Perry, the chairman of the arch-conservative House Freedom Caucus - and, most importantly, making sure the voters who dont often think about politics as something for them understand theres someone who wants to work on their issues who needs their support.

If you only rely on those people who are already voting, its a losing race, Daniels explained of the Democrats position in this race. If you can bring out the people who have never voted before, its a winning race.

Daniels, much like progressive Democratic primary candidate Tom Brier two years ago, believes she is has the street credentials to get that done, especially in the districts urban centers like Harrisburg and York where low voter turnout has become a condition.

After arriving in the U.S. with her family 30 years ago, Daniels graduated from high school in Philadelphia, and then earned her bachelors degree from West Chester University. She went on to gain her law degree from the University of Cincinnati.

She made her mark as a young lawyer as part of the team that litigated against the so-called illegal immigration relief act passed in Hazleton with the full-throated support of then-Mayor Lou Barletta. The ordinance was ruled unconstitutional by a U.S. District Court judge in 2007.

Daniels by then had relocated to Harrisburg. where she specialized in immigration and employment law and became active in Democratic politics. After an unsuccessful bid for Dauphin County Clerk of Courts in 2011, she won election to Harrisburgs City Council in 2013, and is now just starting her third term in that office.

On council, she said she takes satisfaction in the completion of zoning changes that Daniels says have lowered barriers for small businesses to open and operate in the city, helping to stimulate the local economy and build an entrepreneur class within its residents, as well as steps to promote development of affordable housing, and the reduction of penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Perry is seeking a 6th term in Congress from what - just based on past voter performance alone - shapes up as one of Pennsylvanias more competitive districts.

His campaign released a statement after his primary win Tuesday night that suggests hes ready for the fight, in which he sees himself as a key player in the fight to flip majority control of the U.S. House of Representatives back to the Republican Party..

Im honored once again to have earned the overwhelming support of Republicans throughout the District, Perry said.

For voters of the 10th District, theres never been a clearer choice: continue to surrender your hard-earned freedom and dollars to the party led by a failing and feckless President and his enablers like Speaker Pelosi, or reclaim your independence and reject bigger government, record inflation, skyrocketing costs of living, and our National security.

Our neighbors know what I believe. My opponent, Shamaine Daniels, has been an apologist for failure and a promoter of the Biden-Pelosi failed, dangerous, and radical agenda thats destroying our nation day by day. I look forward to a vigorous debate, and Im confident that the voters of the 10th Congressional District will once again choose a brighter, stronger America that encourages the re-growth of strength and prosperity we once knew.

One thing that will be different for Perry is that this is the first time he will have faced voters since being identified as one of the key Congressional allies in former President Donald J. Trumps attempts to cling to power after his loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

Perry is currently facing subpoenas from the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 breach of the U.S. Capitol by angry Trump supporters for his role in the proposed installation of a new Attorney General who was sympathetic to Trumps unfounded claims of voter fraud.

Daniels knows that is a potential moment of reckoning for Perry, and she hopes to build a bridge that Perry supporters who are uncomfortable with his work on the election will cross over this year. She also hopes that Perrys notoriety will draw outside donors to her quest to raise somewhere between $2 and $3 million for the fall campaign.

Daniels has said she is driven by the goal of providing residents what she believes is better representation than they are getting from Perry, whom she feels has tended in recent years to pit his supporters against his opponents.

Hes made his career getting support by scaring people, said Daniels, I think this is an opportunity to show the district what it is that Perry has been telling them they need to be afraid of.

But citing the experiences of 2018 and 2020, she also believes that many of Perrys supporters are dug in for their guy, she said she believes the race ahead cant be solely a referendum on the incumbent. Daniels said the onus will be on her to prove herself as a good alternative.

To beat Scott Perry, we have to have high voter turnout, and for voters to turn out they need to know why they should vote for me, Daniels said.

To that end, she said she is motivated by a desire to advocate for issues like comprehensive immigration reform, which she notes will help not only Americas newest residents, but also the employers that badly need their contributions, and preserving womens reproductive rights.

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With one battle won, Shamaine Daniels is getting ready for the campaign ahead - PennLive

A bipartisan group of senators will formally launch immigration talks on Thursday, marking the latest entry by Congress to try to capture the long-sought policy priority in recent years.

The group will include Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) as well as Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), according to Durbin. All of the senators are members of the Judiciary panel.

A bipartisan immigration deal is a heavy lift, particularly in an election year. But the talks likely represent Democrats best shot at passing a bill after hopes of including immigration reform in a sweeping Democratic-only tax and spending bill, known as Build Back Better, ran aground last year.

Instead of trying to craft an agreement from scratch, the group is going to use smaller, already introduced, bipartisan immigration-related bills to try to put together a package that could get the 60 votes needed to advance through the Senate.

Weve got a list. Weve got a starting list. There could be some more. But its a starting point. Ive talked to four or five Republican senators today. Theres a genuine interest in doing something, Durbin said while warning against the talks becoming top-heavy.

The meeting will be the first formal sit-down that the group has had and comes after Durbin and Tillis told The Hill earlier this month that they intended to convene an immigration gang after the two-week April break.

Tillis said on Wednesday that the group was looking at different proposals where we look like weve got bipartisan support.

What you have to do obviously is you take a look at the proposals in isolation then you have to reconcile them against how you would put them together for something that would work as a package, Tillis told The Hill.

The nascent immigration talks come as lawmakers are entrenched in a fight over the administrations decision to lift Title 42,a Trump-era pandemic public health policy that the Biden administration kept in place but now plans to lift on May 23.

Crafted in the early days of the pandemic, the border policy allows rapid expulsion of migrants in the name of public health and prevents them from seeking asylum.

The administrations decision has sparked fierce pushback from Republicans as well as some Democratic senators. But the administration is also facing pressure from a swath of Democratic lawmakers and immigration advocates to stick by the decision, arguing that the Trump-era program is inhumane.

A GOP demand for a vote to effectively block the administration from lifting Title 42, which has also gotten snagged by a court fight, has stalemated a deal for $10 billion in coronavirus aid. Republicans view the two issues as related because the administrations decision to lift Title 42 comes as there is a broader coronavirus public health emergency still in effect.

Asked if he would try to keep the Title 42 fight separate from the immigration group talks, Durbin replied, As far as we can.

View post:
Senate group to start immigration talks Thursday - The Hill

From social media to cable news, all the American public sees from our leaders are partisan attacks and hyperbolic rhetoric, but that's not the way it has to be. To prove it, Former Members of Congress (FMC) and the Fulcrum have joined forces to bring you Congress at a Crossroads.

The monthly video series brings together Former Members of both parties to discuss the structural issues in today's Congress, as well as the hottest political issues. They won't always agree, but they will always treat each other with respect and civility.

This month, our host, FMC CEO Pete Weichlein sat down with Former Members Henry Bonilla (R-TX) and Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) to discuss the current situation at the U.S.-Mexico border, why Congress has not been able to pass any meaningful immigration reform, and how this issue will affect the upcoming midterm elections, particularly amongst Hispanic voters.

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Video: The Politics of Immigration - The Fulcrum