The Briefing Room
General Category => Politics/Government => Topic started by: Rapunzel on January 09, 2014, 09:53:49 pm
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http://hotair.com/archives/2014/01/09/here-we-go-house-gop-to-release-principles-on-immigration-reform-by-the-end-of-january/
Here we go: House GOP to release “principles” on immigration reform by the end of January
posted at 11:21 am on January 9, 2014 by Allahpundit
This isn’t S.O.P. before major legislative initiatives, is it? Typically the party just puts together a bill and unveils that. There may be a “white paper” circulated among the caucus but it’s not carefully leaked to generate a buzzy story in the New York Times.
The point of this, I assume, is to signal to centrists, business groups, and Latino voters that they really are going to pass something this year — just not yet. It probably won’t include a path to citizenship as that’d be too politically toxic to conservatives, and it won’t be passed soon lest a big amnesty push early in the year trigger a wave of tea-party primary challenges. But they’re going to pass something, once the primary deadline passes. This is Boehner’s way of buying a little more patience from his allies until then.
House Speaker John A. Boehner and his Republican leadership team are preparing to release their principles for an overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws later this month, the speaker told his members at a closed-door conference on Wednesday.
Though the “standards or principles document,” as Mr. Boehner of Ohio referred to the white paper in the meeting, has long been in the works, its imminent release reflects a broader push within the Republican conference to put forth its own proposals as a counterpoint to legislation in the Democratic-controlled Senate…
The goal of the principles is to gauge the Republican conference’s willingness to tackle immigration this year, as well as to receive feedback from lawmakers before embarking on a legislative strategy.
You can guess what the principles will be: Piecemeal reform instead of comprehensive; a heavy rhetorical emphasis on border security, whatever that means in practice; no newly-created special path to citizenship (but conspicuous silence about letting legalized illegals apply for citizenship through existing channels down the road); and then something delicately phrased about bringing people out of the shadows and attracting highly educated talent abroad. Message: “We won’t sell you out, conservatives!” Which raises the question — why wait to introduce a bill, then? Do it now and let the primary chips fall as they may.
A group of conservatives in the House are launching a preemptive strike, with clever timing:
The letter, which makes no mention of the must publicized aspect of comprehensive reform (a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants), strikes a populist tone in light of the president’s focus on income inequality. It questions the wisdom of White House-backed reforms that would dramatically increase the number of low-skilled legal immigrants admitted to the country over the next decade, and, according to the Congressional Budget Office, decrease the average wages of American workers.
The Senate immigration bill, which the White House supports, would “permanently displace American workers” at a time when millions are already out of work, the lawmakers write, while enriching the large corporations who are eager to get their hands on cheap labor.
“The White House has entertained a parade of high-powered business executives to discuss immigration policy, all while shutting out the concerns of everyday wage-earners who overwhelmingly oppose these measures,” they write. “So-called Comprehensive Immigration Reform may be a good deal for big businesses who want to reduce labor costs, and it may be a good deal for progressive labor unions seeking new workers from abroad, but it’s an awful deal for US workers – including African-American and Hispanic communities enduring chronically high unemployment.”
The party’s big fear is that Democrats will succeed, with media help, in moving the conversation this year away from ObamaCare and towards “income inequality” issues like unemployment benefits, the minimum wage, and poverty. This week’s anti-poverty rhetoric from high-profile Republicans like Rubio and Paul Ryan is designed to counter that, of course. I can only assume that House conservatives, while ostensibly aiming their letter at the White House, are essentially warning Boehner that they’re prepared to make trouble on this point if it’s full speed ahead on amnesty. In theory that critique, of immigration reform as a blow to the working class, would hurt both parties since support for reform is bipartisan, but Democrats have more capital to spend on working-class issues because of their support for the welfare state. Having Republicans in the House attacking their own party for selling out workers would, shall we say, complicate the GOP’s message before the midterms. Does Boehner dare risk it? Yeah, probably. Skip to 4:20 below and watch the head of the Chamber of Commerce, which is spearheading the electoral effort against Boehner’s enemies in the tea party this year, predict that we’re going to get a bill. A choice quote from his most recent speech: “We’re determined to make 2014 the year that immigration reform is finally enacted. The chamber will pull out all the stops—through grassroots lobbying, communications, politics and partnerships with our friends in the union, and faith-based organizations, and law enforcement groups, and others to get this job done.”
And before you start celebrating the fact that Republicans will almost certainly rule out a path to citizenship in their nascent bill, read Mark Krikorian. You should know better by now than to believe that citizenship won’t assuredly follow once legalization is secured.
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This must be stopped. It is over for this country should this occur.
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I will add this country is almost done now at this point.
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What an asinine bete noir. So, for the sake of a zero-tolerance policy that will solve nothing - unless one is willing to engage in the sort of massive roundups the Nazis engaged in - conservative republicans are willing to let the democrats keep the Senate and quite possibly retake the House, thereby making it basically impossible to repeal Obamacare and giving the democrats enough time - and power - to more firmly entrench it in the very warp and weft of the federal government.
Stupid, stupid, stupid, ....
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What an asinine bete noir. So, for the sake of a zero-tolerance policy that will solve nothing - unless one is willing to engage in the sort of massive roundups the Nazis engaged in - conservative republicans are willing to let the democrats keep the Senate and quite possibly retake the House, thereby making it basically impossible to repeal Obamacare and giving the democrats enough time - and power - to more firmly entrench it in the very warp and weft of the federal government.
Stupid, stupid, stupid, ....
No one here or anywhere is advocating what you say in this post. We have advanced common sense solutions which you ignore... and, BTW they do not vote for Republicans so what you are advocating is what will make Democrats into a permanent majority.
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What an asinine bete noir. So, for the sake of a zero-tolerance policy that will solve nothing - unless one is willing to engage in the sort of massive roundups the Nazis engaged in - conservative republicans are willing to let the democrats keep the Senate and quite possibly retake the House, thereby making it basically impossible to repeal Obamacare and giving the democrats enough time - and power - to more firmly entrench it in the very warp and weft of the federal government.
Stupid, stupid, stupid, ....
No amnesty! No way! No how!
Not my words but those of the Texas GOP platform they had better heed them!
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This must be stopped. It is over for this country should this occur.
Why?
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No amnesty! No way! No how!
Not my words but those of the Texas GOP platform they had better heed them!
If push comes to shove, which do you prefer, an amnesty, or permanent Obamacare, possibly ending in a government single-payer system within 10 years?
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If push comes to shove, which do you prefer, an amnesty, or permanent Obamacare, possibly ending in a government single-payer system within 10 years?
I prefer neither and don't accept that those are the choices!
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If push comes to shove, which do you prefer, an amnesty, or permanent Obamacare, possibly ending in a government single-payer system within 10 years?
What an absurd question. Pass amnesty and you will positively have a government single payer system within 10 years.
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Why?
Probably because polls show that illegal immigrants, if granted citizenship, will vote democrat in the 80%-90% range. Of course, they could be wrong. Hispanics voted overwhelmingly for McCain. LOL!
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[[ And before you start celebrating the fact that Republicans will almost certainly rule out a path to citizenship in their nascent bill, read Mark Krikorian. You should know better by now than to believe that citizenship won’t assuredly follow once legalization is secured. ]]
There was a report yesterday that only 25% of Americans now claim to be "Republicans".
Sounds like the Congressional Quisling-publicans want to drive this number right down to zero!
What could be a better way to do it?
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Why?
Because all those new 'immigrants' will vote democrat. If they would vote republican you know the left would have put up a wall with gun turrets on the border by now.
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I thought the House GOP had released it's principles a long time ago.
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Obama knows how to divert attention from failed Obamacare:
Change the subject to immigration, then to homosexuality, then to abortion and contraception.
Induces whiplash.