The “big three” networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC punted Tuesday night on news that Senate Democrats successfully blocked legislation aimed at cracking down on sanctuary cities like San Francisco that lead to murders like that of 32-year-old Kate Steinle by an illegal immigrant.
Doing the job the networks could have been doing, Fox Business Network (FBN) host Lou Dobbs alerted his views on his eponymous Tuesday show to the story that he described as “business as usual” with “Senate Republican leadership permitting Senate Democrats to successfully filibuster Republican legislation that would have cracked down on sanctuary cities.”
Dobbs continued along with the 46-second news brief by explaining that:
The Republican-backed bill would have cut off federal funding for cities and local governments that don't honor requests to hold criminal illegal immigrants in jail. Cities like San Francisco or an illegal immigrant that shouldn't have been freed, murdered 32-year-old Kate Steinle. 60 votes were required to advance the bill that fell short on the procedural rule, 54 to 45.
In a swipe against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Dobbs declared that “so long as” McConnell is in charge, “it appears the White House will never have to actually veto a bill.”
Dobbs’s choice of words were in contrast to The Los Angeles Times largely cheered the move by Senate Democrats:
California's Senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, joined fellow Democrats in the U.S. Senate Tuesday to block legislation that would have withheld some federal funding from cities that shield residents from federal immigration officials.
Advocacy groups for immigrants urged members to reject the bill. But NumbersUSA, a group that wants to limit the number of immigrants in the country, said it would make sure voters knew which senators supported the bill.
(....)
Republicans, led by presidential candidate Donald Trump, drew attention to the issue after the July shooting death of Kate Steinle on a San Francisco pier by Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, a Mexican immigrant in the country illegally who had been repeatedly deported for non-violent felonies. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials had asked the city to turn over Lopez-Sanchez after a recent drug conviction.
The transcript of the brief from FBN’s Lou Dobbs Tonight on October 20 can be found below.
FBN’s Lou Dobbs Tonight
October 20, 2015
7:06 p.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: News Alert; Senate Democrats Block Bill to Withhold Funds from Sanctuary Cities]
LOU DOBBS: Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, business as usual, and the Senate Republican leadership permitting Senate Democrats to successfully filibuster Republican legislation that would have cracked down on sanctuary cities. The Republican-backed bill would have cut off federal funding for cities and local governments that don't honor requests to hold criminal illegal immigrants in jail. Cities like San Francisco or an illegal immigrant that shouldn't have been freed, murdered 32-year-old Kate Steinle. 60 votes were required to advance the bill that fell short on the procedural rule, 54 to 45. So long as Senator Mitch McConnell is the majority leader, it appears the White House will never have to actually veto a bill.
