Obama heading to Boston Thursday

Published April 16, 2013

Associated Press

President Obama will visit Boston on Thursday, three days after a pair of deadly bombings at the Boston Marathon.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick says Obama will be attending an interfaith service.

Three people were killed at the marathon's finish line, including an 8-year-old boy. More than 170 were wounded.

Hours after the explosions, Obama vowed that those responsible would be brought to justice. In remarks on Tuesday, he called the bombings an act of terrorism but said investigators still don't know who carried them out.

He also said the American people refuse to be terrorized.

Obama has traveled four times to cities reeling from mass violence, but all of the previous trips followed shooting incidents. The most recent was in December after the schoolhouse shooting in Newtown, Conn.

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Senate immigration plan could be ready by Thursday, followed by weeks of debate

By Mike Emanuel

Published April 09, 2013

FoxNews.com

The immigration reform legislation could be released in the Senate as early as Thursday, followed by a weeks of debate and amendments, a congressional aide told Fox News on Tuesday.

A bipartisan group of senators has been working on the legislation since early January.

Members had a major breakthrough last month when the AFL-CIO and the Chamber of Commerce agreed on a plan for work visas for low-skilled laborers. However, the group still faces other hurdles before reaching an agreement, including determining to what extent U.S. borders must be secured before creating a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. There are roughly 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States.

The extended process, the aide said, was intended to win support from Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, a key member of the so-called Gang of Eight senators.

Rubio has called for an extended debate and amendment process after the legislation is introduced in the Senate Judiciary Committee to allow related parties to have their say.

The aide said the senators had a good discussion Tuesday with committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

“We are optimistic that we will be able to introduce legislation soon,” the aide said. “Chairman Leahy has agreed to hold a hearing as soon as possible after the legislation is introduced and has promised to have unlimited debate and amendments during the committee mark-up.”

Rubio spokesman Alex Conant said the senator “has said from the outset that we will not rush this process, and that begins at the committee level. … It’s good that senators and the public will have weeks to study this proposal.”

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