Think Progress

IMMIGRATION -- FEDERAL AGENTS 'SECRETLY' PROFILING IMMIGRANTS: According to a 2006 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) memo obtained by McClatchy, the Bush administration has "secretly established profiling techniques to screen immigrants based on their nationalities, protocols that critics charge encourage the unjustified targeting of Muslims." A proposed list of 35 "special interest" countries includes those with "significant Muslim or Arab populations. Almost 20 percent of the world's countries -- including some of the United States' key allies, such as Jordan, Turkey and Egypt -- are on the list." The ICE memo also suggested that federal law enforcement divisions adopt an interagency definition of a "special interest alien" as an immigrant with alleged terrorist ties or "having sympathies" with the listed countries. Georgetown Law professor David Cole said the profiling is "likely to alienate the people here and abroad we need to be working with" and that the program will "waste a lot of resources on people who pose no threat." McClatchy notes that "[c]ourts have upheld immigration policies that discriminate based on nationality, but generally view law enforcement profiling of U.S. citizens based on ethnicity, race or religion as unconstitutional."

CONGRESS -- LAWMAKERS UNVEIL BUDGET WITH MORE FUNDING FOR DOMESTIC PRIORITIES: Yesterday, Senate Democrats presented their budget, which "would inject billions of additional dollars into such domestic priorities as education, energy and transportation, while providing $35 billion for a second round of government spending aimed at stimulating a weak economy." The budget includes $3.5 billion for new energy programs, "the biggest increase in 30 years," and $13.4 billion in energy tax cuts. It also features an additional $5.7 billion over the President's request for education programs. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) said the budget plan "would result in a balanced budget by 2012...and it matches Mr. Bush's request for $2.9 trillion over five years for war and defense spending." Bush has threatened to veto any bill exceeding his own spending budget requests, prompting "some Democrats to say they may wait for a new president to take office" before finishing appropriations allocations.

ADMINISTRATION -- BUSH APPOINTS LOYALIST FRAN TOWNSEND TO INTELLIGENCE BOARD: On Friday, the White House issued an executive order revamping the President's Intelligence Advisory Board (PIAB), "a nonpartisan body offering the President objective, expert advice on the conduct of U.S. foreign intelligence." Board members cannot be employees of the federal government, but the President is now stacking the board with former loyal Bushies. Yesterday, the White House announced it would appoint former Homeland Security Adviser Fran Townsend to the board. In her former role, Townsend functioned as a mouthpiece for President Bush's misguided national security priorities. Last week's executive order also guts the Intelligence Oversight Board (IOB), a sub-unit of the PIAB that "advises the President on the legality of foreign intelligence activities." Bush transferred much of the IOB's investigative powers to DNI Mike McConnell, a Bush appointee. Under the order, IOB members may in fact include PIAB appointees like Townsend. Ultimately, Bush is ensuring that the boards simply will rubber-stamp the White House's intelligence activities.

"Voters in two southern Vermont towns passed articles Tuesday calling for the indictment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney for violating the Constitution. More symbolic than substantive, the items sought to have police arrest Bush and Cheney if they ever visit Brattleboro or nearby Marlboro or to extradite them for prosecution elsewhere — if they’re not impeached first."

Twenty-six Senate Democrats will send a letter to the Bush administration today urging it to impose sanctions on Iran, contending its central bank "is heavily involved in the funding of terrorism and the financing of Iran's proliferation activities."

Senate Democrats unveiled a budget “that would inject billions of additional dollars into such domestic priorities as education, energy and transportation, while providing $35 billion for a second round of government spending aimed at stimulating a weak economy." The budget "omits…tens of billions of dollars to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."

A top Centers for Disease Control official told a congressional panel yesterday that the agency "should have reacted sooner to concerns about hazardous fumes in government-issued trailers housing thousands of Gulf Coast hurricane victims." "Formaldehyde in trailers didn't rise to the top of our priority list at that time," the official said.

Adopting a message that could "help Democrats to portray themselves as protecting the military and national security," congressional Democrats will argue that getting troops out of Iraq “is the only way to rebuild a spent military."

Anti-coal groups filed a lawsuit this week "to stop federal investment in new power plants that would enshrine coal for another generation."

Today, Senate conservatives plan to announce a package of harsh immigration bills that would "require jail time for illegal immigrants caught crossing the border, make it harder for them to open bank accounts and compel them to communicate in English when dealing with federal agencies"

And finally: Get ready for the House GOP’s "live-blogging" from a Budget Committee debate on the fiscal 2009 spending plan! House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) said that Americans will get a "front-row seat for this important debate" and a "chance to follow the action as it happens." The excitement starts today at 10:30 EST here.