Immigration
June 19, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Marco Rubio made another one of his seemingly endless appearances on Sean Hannity’s program to advocate amnesty legislation. Rubio told Hannity that he has opposed amendments by Republican Senators to improve the legislation’s enforcement provisions because a new enforcement provision will be proposed tomorrow that is tougher and more effective than what has been proposed so far. Rand Paul’s amendment, which Rubio voted against, would have given Congress, not the
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June 18, 2013 — John Hinderaker
I have never thought so. On the contrary, the Republican politicians I know well are far smarter and much more hard-working than the public gives them credit for. Still, there are times when you wonder: are Republican politicians–not voters, but politicians–pathologically unable to learn from experience? The current immigration controversy is a case in point. Who could possibly consider it a good idea to bring in one-quarter to one-third of
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June 18, 2013 — John Hinderaker
The Congressional Budget Office released its analysis of the Gang of Eight’s immigration proposal today, and spinning is in full swing. The fact is, however, that the basic facts can’t be spun: the bill is a disaster. As with Obamacare, the Gang structured its bill to make it “score” artificially well from a budget perspective. They did this by delaying the newly legalized immigrants’ eligibility for most federal welfare benefits
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June 18, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Yesterday, I suggested that the most plausible scenario under which Congress enacts Schumer-Rubio style amnesty legislation is one in which: (1) the House passes very different legislation, but (2) relents in conference with the Senate, and (3) adopts the conference version with near unanimous Democrat support and a few dozen Republican votes. One way to avoid this scenario is for the House to pass no immigration reform legislation at all,
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June 18, 2013 — John Hinderaker
Today the Senate voted down amendments to the Gang of Eight’s bill that were proposed by Senators Thune and Vitter. Thune’s amendment would have required 350 miles of the 700-mile border fence that was mandated by the 2006 Secure Fence Act to be completed prior to any legalization of illegal aliens. The remaining 350 miles would have to be built thereafter. Thune’s amendment highlights what a joke the Gang’s promises
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June 18, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
I hear that at the weekly House GOP conference, Speaker Boehner firmly committed to the Hastert rule on immigration reform legislation, with no wiggle room. Boehner explained that he, Pelosi, and Hastert have violated the rule when they had no leverage and other options were worse, e.g., with fiscal-cliff legislation. But this is not the case with immigration reform, he said. Boehner’s view, from what I’m hearing, is that President
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June 18, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Yesterday, it was revealed that an aide to Sen. Rubio made the following statement to Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker: There are American workers who, for lack of a better term, can’t cut it. There shouldn’t be a presumption that every American worker is a star performer. There are people who just can’t get it, can’t do it, don’t want to do it. And so you can’t obviously discuss
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June 17, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Earlier today, I discussed a way in which the House leadership could bring a comprehensive, amnesty-style immigration reform bill up for a vote without clearly violating the Hastert Rule (under which only legislation supported by half of the Republican caucus comes to a vote). The House leadership could accomplish this, I speculated, if the House passes its own, significantly different immigration reform measure and then, in conference, accedes to a
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June 17, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
The Washington Examiner reports that Speaker Boehner will not bring a comprehensive immigration-reform plan to the floor if a majority of Republicans don’t support it. This is normal Republican policy in the House (it’s known as the Hastert Rule). I had speculated, however, that Boehner might waive the rule in the case of immigration reform legislation by applying a lower threshold, say one-third support. The Examiner reporter, David Drucker, cites
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June 16, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
In a recent post about the prospects of passing amnesty legislation in the House, I referred to the Majority Leader as Eric “Wall Street” Cantor. Some readers probably wondered where I was coming from. This article in Politico may help explain. Politico reports that Diana Cantor, the wife of the Majority Leader, has joined the board of Revlon, the cosmetic giant. You may recall Revlon’s role in the Monica Lewinsky
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June 15, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
A few days ago, I noted that the Democrats probably need only about two dozen Republican votes to pass Schumer-Rubio style amnesty legislation in the House. As a practical matter, though, two dozen isn’t the magic number because it’s highly unlikely that the Republican leadership would permit a vote on legislation supported by that few Republican members. So what is the magic number of House Republicans needed to pass amnesty/path
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June 14, 2013 — John Hinderaker
The Gang of Eight’s immigration bill is nothing less than a frontal assault on America’s already-struggling blue collar population. Forget border security–the bill would be an abomination even if it could magically guarantee that upon passage, not a single person would ever again cross the border illegally. The bill is a disaster because of the legal immigration it will authorize, estimated at somewhere between 30 million and 57 million above
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June 14, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Over the years, I’ve read plenty of claims that we’re witnessing a “crackup” of liberals or conservatives (or sometimes both at the same time). Normally, I react by rolling my eyes. For me, “crackup” claims are a almost always hack way of expressing unjustified triumphalism. But now I think I see a crackup. Given the scandal-a-week Obama administration, you might think that the crackup, if any, is looming on the
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June 13, 2013 — John Hinderaker
Paul noted last night that the Democrats “probably need fewer than two dozen House Republican votes” to pass the Gang of Eight’s bill, or some other amnesty proposal. The number depends, obviously, on how many Democrats defect. Which raises the question: how many members of the Congressional Black Caucus–if any–will be willing to stand up and oppose the immigration bill? The mass importation of unskilled Mexican labor contemplated by the
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June 13, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
I respect the work of David Brooks even though I often disagree with it. But this Brooks column on immigration reform leaves me shaking my head. Brooks argues that “immigration opponents are effectively trying to restrict the flow of conservatives into this country.” What does he mean by this? First, I assume that Brooks isn’t talking about restricting the number of conservatives “flowing” into the U.S., but rather restricting the
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June 12, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Paul Ryan tells a Washington audience assembled by the National Association of Manufacturers that “earned legalization is an issue I think the House can and will deal with.” In other words, as CNBC’s John Harwood tweeted, “Paul Ryan tells me House will pass immigration ‘path to citizenship.’ Despite flak on right, ‘House can/will deal with earned legalization.’” Earlier this year, when comments by Ryan caused me to suggest that amnesty
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June 12, 2013 — John Hinderaker
The U.S. has a terrible immigration system, which was designed largely by Ted Kennedy for the purpose of increasing “diversity,” without giving any thought to American interests. If we would simply adopt the Canadian system, it would be a vast improvement. Unfortunately, the Gang of Eight’s bill does not move in the right direction, i.e., an immigration policy that is designed to serve the best interests of the United States.
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