Wilkommen back. President Obama will speak at German’s Brandenberg Gate this morning — five years after then-presidential candidate Barack Obama scrapped plans to speak there, moving his speech to Tiergarten Square instead. Now, he will get to deliver his speech at the historic gate, nearly 50 years after President John F. Kennedy gave one of his most famous speeches to the then-divided city, pledging his solidarity and telling Germans, “Ich bin ein Berliner.” President Ronald Reagan also made his famous “Tear down this wall” speech to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at the gate in 1978, and in 1994 President Clinton addressed peace plans in post-Cold War Europe. In his 2008 speech, then-candidate Obama called to “remake the world yet again,” and now as president in his first state visit to the country, Obama will speak about his goal of eliminating nuclear weapons around the world.
Abortion ban passes. “The Republican-controlled House passed legislation Tuesday that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, offering social conservatives a symbolic victory even as the bill is all but certain not to become law,” NBC News reports. “The vote was 228-196, with six Democrats and all but six Republicans voting for the measure. But the legislation, sponsored by Rep. Trent Franks of Arizona, has virtually no chance of becoming law, with the Democratic-led Senate certain to ignore it and the White House threatening in scathing language to veto it.”
Immigration reform–saving you money? The Congressional Budget Office announced on Tuesday that the bipartisan immigration bill currently in the Senate would increase the U.S. population by 10.4 million if passed — and decrease federal budget deficits by $197 billion between 2014 and 2023. NBC News notes “the legislation would create new federal outlays of about $262 billion in the first decade but would increase revenues – largely from new income and payroll taxes – by $459 billion. It also estimates that about 8 million undocumented immigrants would initially gain legal status under the bill’s provisions.”
Jessica Taylor