Marco Rubio
May 15, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Last week, Bret Baier’s Special Report program on Fox News featured interviews with Marco Rubio and Jeff Sessions about the Rubio-Schumer amnesty legislation. The interviews were given separately. Although Baier tried his best to make it into a point-counterpoint kind of affair, it couldn’t really be a debate because Rubio and Sessions didn’t appear together. I understand that Baier, naturally enough, would have preferred to have Sessions and Rubio on
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May 6, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Mark Krikorian shows how the Schumer-Rubio immigration reform bill falls short of what Sen. Rubio promised when he touted it in advance on conservative Talk Radio. Here are some of the particulars Krikorian presents: 1. Rubio emphasized that to gain legal status, immigrants would have to pay their back taxes. But the bill Rubio helped write requires only that applicants “satisfy any applicable federal tax liability” that has previously been
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May 5, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Mickey Kaus comments on the statement we received on Friday from Senator Rubio’s office (posted here) in defense of the Gang of Eight immigration bill: Rubio: Illegals will pay fines or be deported! Ambassador of Amnesty Marco Rubio argues on Powerline–or rather, “Marco Rubio” argues, since the words are attributed only to his “office”**–that critics overstate the number of new immigrants who would be added by his legalization bill: There
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May 3, 2013 — Scott Johnson
National Review helped launch Marco Rubio to prominence in his seemingly quixotic quest for the GOP Senatorial nomination against Charlie Crist and National Review has now declared the Gang of Eight immigration bill of which Rubio is a chief sponsor to be Rubio’s Folly (cover below). NR senior editor Jay Nordlinger appeared on Morning Joe briefly this morning to explain why, and Jay’s critique of the bill on the show
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May 2, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Please dont’t miss John Fonte’s piece on NRO about provisions in the Gang of Eight bill (see pages 370-94) that will funnel federal dollars to left-wing activists so they can organize illegal aliens who obtain amnesty. The money is cleverly earmarked as intended to help integrate immigrants. Thus, it is designated for programs that will promote “linguistic, economic, and civic integration.” But who will get the money? According to the
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May 1, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Byron York reports that Senator Rubio has opened a new page on his Senate website asking for help from the public. “Visit our website and submit your ideas to ‘Help Us Improve the Bill,’” says an announcement from Rubio’s office this past Friday. “Since the immigration legislation was introduced, Rubio has received over 1,100 suggestions for how to improve the bill. Rubio encourages the public to continue reviewing the bill
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April 28, 2013 — Scott Johnson
The Gang of Eight immigration bill shares several unlovely characteristics of the Obamacare legislation. Its supporters haven’t yet claimed that we might have to pass the bill to find out what’s in it (or what’s not in it), but that seems to be the case. The Daily Caller’s Neil Munro reports: The Senate’s complex immigration bill would instantly gut the popular E-Verify system that is widely used to exclude illegal
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April 23, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Yes, for the reasons set forth below, via Eliana Johnson and Mediaite. When Rubio was running for the Senate in 2009, he told a Florida political blogger that, with regard to immigration, “the most important thing we need to do is enforce our existing laws.” He added: If you go to people and say: “Look, well you’ve been here for so long that even though you broke the law we’re
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April 22, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
The Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on the Gang of Eight immigration bill seemed calculated to prevent reasoned debate. Both hearing dates occurred within less than a week of the release of the nearly 900-page bill, making it impossible for witnesses fully to analyze the Gang’s proposal. Moreover, only five of the 20 witnesses called during the two dates oppose this legislation. Two of these five adverse witnesses admitted that they
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April 22, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
That’s the question posed by the Daily Caller. The answer, unfortunately, appears to be that Rubio did not tell the truth to Levin and his audience. During his appearance on Levin’s program on April 17, Rubio referred four times to the creation of a commission led by border governors. This statement is typical of how he described the commission and its role: If, in five years, the plan has not
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April 20, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Anyone who considers Marco Rubio suitable for the presidency should read this piece by Rich Lowry. We would expect a president to be able, at a minimum, to hold his own in negotiations with the smartest people in the opposition party. As Lowry shows, Rubio has failed that test: If you are going to have any hope of passing a sweeping amnesty bill in a divided Congress, you need a
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April 19, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
John O’Sullivan at NRO has an excellent post called “The Assimilation Vacuum and the Boston Bombers.” He writes: The first point that strikes me is that these young men should have had every reason to be happy in the United States and grateful to the country for its giving them sanctuary. Their uncle seems to have developed just such a loyalty. In addition, the young men were apparently well-integrated into
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April 18, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Marco Rubio appeared on Mark Levin’s program yesterday to argue in favor of the Gang of Eight’s immigration reform bill. In my view, Levin asked good question and received, for the most part, weak or slippery answers. You can listen to interview, which is well worth 17 minutes of your time, here. Levin devoted most of the interview to border security. He got Rubio to admit that the efficacy of
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April 17, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
In a conference call yesterday, Marco Rubio said that his comprehensive immigration reform bill will “require a lot of communication.” To that end, Rubio communicated his view about the path to citizenship provision. Rubio argued that illegal immigrants living in the country already have a “path to citizenship.” They can return home, immigrate legally back to the U.S. in ten years, and then apply for a green card, the first
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April 16, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Senator Jeff Sessions has expressed concern that the Gang of Eights’s immigration legislation is being rushed and that other senators won’t have sufficient time to comment and propose changes. Said Sessions: The gang has met privately for months, in close consultation with the special interests, to draft this legislation. Is the public not entitled to have at least as long to review it before their representatives are asked to vote
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April 16, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
The Washington Post offers some fluffy reporting about Sen. Marco Rubio’s participation in the Gang of Eight. We learn that Rubio was first approached by Sen. Durbin, his workout partner, in the Senate’s members only gym early one December morn. We learn that Rubio was added to the “Gang” after Senate Majority Leader McConnell made it clear to Sens. McCain and Graham that Rubio’s participation would be crucial to winning
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April 14, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
As John noted, this morning on ABC’s This Week, Chuck Schumer relied on a non sequitur to support the Gang of 8′s approach to immigration reform. Schumer argued that there is no reason to criticize the amnesty in the Gang’s plan, because what we have now is de facto amnesty for 11 million illegals. Meanwhile, on Fox News Sunday, Marco Rubio made exactly the same point at the end of
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