Obama: Immigration reform will get done by end of presidency

The Hill, By Justin Sink, February 14, 2014

President Obama predicted that Congress would pass an immigration reform bill before the end of his presidency in a Univision Radio interview airing Friday.

“I believe it will get done before my presidency is over,” the president said. “I’d like to get it done this year.”

While the Senate passed a comprehensive immigration bill in a bipartisan vote last year, efforts in the House had faltered. Republican leaders earlier this year outlined a series of principles that appeared to indicate they were open to pursuing immigration reform. 

CONTINUED.  

You Can’t Trust Washington on Immigration

Obama has “already circumvented immigration law with respect to large numbers of unlawful immigrants already in the country.”

Heritage Foundation,  Amy Payne, February 7, 2014

President Obama can’t be trusted to enforce U.S. laws—and that makes many lawmakers hesitant to pass new immigration laws.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said yesterday that this was proving to be a roadblock:

Listen, there’s widespread doubt about whether this administration can be trusted to enforce our laws. And it’s going to be difficult to move any immigration legislation until that changes.

READ MORE.  

Bracing for Amnesty--A jab at the Tea Party?

Canada Free Press, By Arnold Ahlert, February 1, 2014

Unbelievable as it may be to their core constituency, House Republicans are now embracing comprehensive immigration reform. Late yesterday, the Hill obtained a one-page document outlining the GOP’s “statement of principals,” that endorses a path to legal status, once “specific enforcement triggers” have been achieved.

In an apparent sop to their base, House leadership stopped short of offering a path to citizenship, citing unfairness to those who have emigrated here legally, and the “harm” it would do to the rule of law. “Rather, these persons could live legally and without fear in the U.S., but only if they were willing to admit their culpability, pass rigorous background checks, pay significant fines and back taxes, develop proficiency in English and American civics, and be able to support themselves and their families (without access to public benefits),” the paper states.

CONTINUED. 

Just How Many Illegal Aliens Are Here, and Who the Hell Are They?

Before considering amnesty, Government needs to determine how many illegals are here, what medical, criminal, financial, social questions must be answered before anyone is allowed to bypass the rule of law

Canada Free Press, By John Lillpop, February 1, 2014

As the Republican party continues to abandon the American people by morphing into a far-left wing of the Democrat Party on issues like immigration, many important questions about illegals are not being asked, to the potential detriment of American citizens.

For example, conventional wisdom(?) is that there are 11 million illegals in America.  That number has been bandied about for years, with little or no substantiation.

However, if the government’s ability to estimate is anything as pathetic as we have seen with ObamaCare, one can reasonably expect that there are many, many more illegals here than the Democrats are claiming.

Then, the question not being asked is: Who in the hell are these people?

FIND OUT HERE. 

Tea Party Legislative Update, January 26, 2014

House/Senate Action: Weeks of 1/13/14-1/26/14

The House will be in session Monday through Wednesday of next week.
The Senate will be in session Monday through Thursday of next week.

CALENDAR NOTES:

The President’s State of the Union Address will take place Tuesday evening at 9 PM. The House Republican retreat in Cambridge, Maryland will begin place the following day.

House Republican Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington – the
highest-ranking Republican woman in the Congress – will deliver the official Republican response to the President’s State of the Union address.

As he did last year, Sen. Rand Paul will offer his own response, via YouTube and other social media channels. And Sen. Mike Lee will offer a Tea Party response, sponsored by Tea Party Express.

Note: In recent weeks, we've heard a lot about the content of the President’s address, with much speculation indicating that he would again focus on income inequality. But in the last few days, the White House has been leaking information suggesting that because polling by outside allies shows that “income inequality” leads too many people to think he’s really talking about income redistribution (which he is), the language has been tweaked, and instead he’ll talk about “expanding ladders of opportunity,” which is language right out of the old Jack Kemp/Ronald Reagan playbook.

REVIEW:

The House took up and passed H.R. 3362, the “Exchange Information and Disclosure Act,” requiring the Administration to provide regularly weekly updates on the status of the ObamaCare rollout. The measure passed by a vote of 259-154, with 33 Democrats joining 226 Republicans in support.

As we predicted two weeks ago, Senate Republicans – including the six who voted to proceed to consideration of the extension of emergency unemployment benefits – held firm in insisting that the $6.4 billion measure be paid for realistically. (You may recall, Majority Leader Harry Reid had offered to “pay for” the me asure by extending the Sequester for two more years – a joke of a “pay for” that the Senate GOP immediately rejected.) So far, there’s been no further movement.

DEBT CEILING:

As per the October agreement that reopened the federal government, the debt ceiling was suspended until February 7. That’s less than two weeks from now.

In the past, the Treasury has employed what it calls “extraordinary measures” to continue paying federal bills beyond the reaching of the national debt limit. In some cases, this ability has extended for literally months, and early projections this time around indicated that Treasury would be able to use these cash-management gimmicks to buy time through late spring – possibly as late as May or even early June. But February is typically a heavy deficit-spending month, as tax refunds are sent out by the Treasury, so Treasury Secretary Jack Lew sent a letter to the Hill last Wednesday informing Congress that Treasury’s ability to use these “extraordinary measures” to continue paying federals bills will run out by the end of February, and, therefore, Congress must take action early next month.  Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell – no doubt influenced by the fact that he faces a competitive
primary challenge from his right in his reelection campaign – appeared on FOX News Sunday this morning to reiterate his insistence that any debt ceiling increase also include policy riders.

Meanwhile, House Republicans – led by Speaker Boehner – are on the same page, and continue to search for consensus in the House GOP Conference as to what those policy riders might be. Among the possibilities: repealing the “risk corridor” provisions in ObamaCare, to ensure that taxpayers are not stuck with the bill for a massive bailout of health insurance companies; approval of the Keystone XL pipeline; and repealing the medical device tax in ObamaCare.

BUDGET:

The White House announced on Thursday that it would release the President’s budget proposal on March 4, roughly a month later than the February 9 deadline required under law. It attributed the delay to the December budget deal. News reports indicate his budget will propose higher taxes on wealthy Americans, and more spending on infrastructure and early education programs.

Meanwhile, there’s been some talk on Capitol Hill that Republicans in the House may decide not to propose and consider a budget for FY2015 at all. Near as I can tell, it’s coming from operatives at the National Republican Congressional Committee and associated consultants, who seem to think that taking votes on a GOP budget is unnecessary (since the budget deal concluded in December includes top-line spending guidelines for FY2015 already), so why risk giving Democrats campaign fodder?

Nevertheless, top House Republicans – including Speaker Boehner and Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan – indicate that they plan to move a budget, as the law requires.

OBAMACARE:

Week before last, a study by McKinsey & Co. revealed that the ObamaCare exchanges had made little progress in actually extending insurance to those who had previously been uninsured. In fact, according to the study, of the roughly 2.2 million people who had signed up for insurance on the federal and state exchanges through the end of December, only 11 percent had been previously uninsured. Those who failed to use the exchanges to enroll cited two big reasons – the high cost of insurance premiums (cited by 52%), and the difficulty of navigating the web sites (cited by 30%).

That same week, Gary Cohen, the director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight at HHS, testified before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations that the back end of Healthcare.gov is still under construction, and he refused to pin down an estimated completion date. The “back end” is the automated system that sends payments to insurance companies after someone enrolls on one of the exchange web sites. Without this information, the insurance companies literally have no idea who’s enrolled, and who gets a subsidy. They’re flying blind.

Documents released by HHS last week show just how serious a problem this is – to justify firing CGI Federal (the main contractor on Healthcare.gov) and awarding the contract on a sole-source basis to Accenture, HHS revealed that they believe this problem puts “the entire health insurance industry at risk” … “potentially leading to their default and disrupting continued services and coverage to consumers.” Then the memo went even further, saying that if the problem isn’t fixed by mid-March, “they will result in financial harm to the government,” and went on to add that without the necessary fixes, “the entire health care reform program is jeopardized.”

Also that same week, Speaker Boehner announced that House Republicans would offer – and possibly vote on – a replacement for ObamaCare. That promises to be one of the main topics of conversation at the House Retreat that begins Wednesday.

Support for an alternative comes, generally, from the conservatives in the House GOP Conference, who want an issue agenda to run on, not just something to run against. And, as virtually always happens, the GOP consultant class, whose thinking generally runs along the lines of, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” opposes them. These consultants see a continued bad economy and a continued disastrous rollout for ObamaCare as their tickets to victory in the 2014 midterm elections, and they seek to minimize opportunities for the Democrats to turn things around.

IMMIGRATION:

As we discussed in our call two weeks ago, House Republican leaders have begun quietly circulating a set of principles on immigration reform that includes a proposal to offer legal status to illegal immigrants. Their thinking is simple – no one believes you can round up and deport 11 million illegal immigrants, so we’ve got to find a way to create a legal status for them short of citizenship.

We expect the one-page document will be released at the House GOP Retreat later this week.
The new principles will envision a legal process by which illegal immigrants can admit guilt and pay fines and any back taxes, and then gain the right to live and work in the U.S. and travel abroad. It will insist that no legalization provisions take effect until border security and other enforcement measures are in place, sources familiar with the draft said.

Unlike under the Senate bill, they will not automatically qualify for citizenship – what critics call a
"special path." But legislation being crafted by Republican lawmakers, apparently with the support of House leaders, would let newly legalized immigrants apply for legal permanent residence, also known as a green card, using the pathways available to anyone else. And here’s the problem for us – once someone has a green card, he or she is eligible to apply for citizenship.

Some House conservatives are planning to introduce their own alternative immigration proposal, which will focus on enforcement of current laws and providing economic assistance to unemployed citizens before providing legal status to illegal immigrants. The alternatives being circulated properly take note of the fact that the White House- and Senate-approved legislation isn’t problematic just because it creates an amnesty for the illegal immigrants who are already here, but it drastically increases the number of foreign unskilled guest workers who could be imported, which would depress wages across the board.

On Thursday, 15 of these conservative House Republicans met with Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama to discuss ways to block the House GOP Leadership’s efforts.

As a reminder, Tea Party Patriots put our own principles for immigration reform last summer. They can be found by clicking on this link.  Stay tuned as this plays out.

Boehner sets immigration debate, but polls show growing public opposition

GOP leaders are finalizing plans for an open debate on immigration to be held by legislators at their late January closed-door strategy session in Cambridge, Md.

The debate will include a panel of legislators, an outside expert, and an open mic, allowing members to comment on a one-page set of “principles” that likely will be released at the event, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

The format will put Speaker of the House John Boehner and immigration advocate Rep. Paul Ryan in the driver’s seat. But a new poll that shows increased voter hostility to an amnesty is highlighting the difficulty that they face in trying to satisfy both their November voters and their business donors.

Read more—and call your representatives now!

SEE THE SCATHING LETTER GOP LAWMAKERS SENT TO OBAMA ON IMMIGRATION

(Walter B. Jones IS among the signors.)

Sixteen GOP lawmakers warned President Obama in a letter delivered Thursday that they “reject” his call for the House to pass an immigration reform bill, which they say will displace tens of millions of American workers who are already struggling to keep a part time job, reduce wages and affect tens of millions more who are unemployed.

Alabama Republican Rep. Mo Brooks spearheaded the letter, along with 15 other members, saying the Senate’s immigration overhaul will give permanent residency to over 30 million immigrants in the next decade, adding in the letter  that the “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 U.S. workers – including African-American and Hispanic communities enduring chronically high unemployment.”

CONTINUE READING.  

OBAMA TO HECKLER: IF I COULD BYPASS CONGRESS TO DEAL WITH IMMIGRATION, ‘I WOULD DO SO’

President Barack Obama told a heckler Monday that if he could deal with immigration without going through Congress, he “would do so.”

The heckler, just a few rows behind Obama as he spoke about immigration reform in San Francisco, demanded Obama “end deportation now.”

“I need your help. There are thousands,” the heckler said.

Obama responded, “That’s exactly what we’re talking about here.”

The heckler said, “Mr. President, please issue an executive order” and implored him, “you have the power to end.”

VIDEO AND MORE:  http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/11/25/obama-to-heckler-if-i-could-bypass-congress-to-deal-with-immigration-i-would-do-so/

The Heritage Foundation Morning Bell

5 Immigration Questions for Your Congressman

08/07/2013

During the August congressional recess, a pro-amnesty coalition of business and union interests is putting the squeeze on members of the House of Representatives to pass a “comprehensive immigration reform” bill similar to the Senate-passed monstrosity. But hard-working Americans also have a voice and can speak up in town halls with House members while they’re in the districts. Here are five questions to remind them of the wisdom and importance of taking a step-by-step approach to immigration reform.

1. How can we afford an amnesty for illegal immigrants? 

We can’t. Over their lifetimes, the estimated 11.5 million illegal immigrants would cost federal, state, and local taxpayers trillions of dollars, because they will consume significantly more in government benefits and services than they pay in taxes. Amnesty for millions of predominantly low-skilled illegal immigrants also will depress wages for low-skilled Americans and make a tough job market more difficult.

2. If illegal immigrants win amnesty, how is that fair to the 4.5 million who are waiting to enter the United States legally?

It isn’t fair. America prides itself on the rule of law. As Americans, we should not allow those who break our laws to be rewarded—especially at the expense of those who are abiding by the rules. Rather than adequately streamlining our legalization system, some in Congress are pushing a new “path to citizenship” that grants amnesty to those who broke the law.

3. Can we ensure that a House-passed immigration bill doesn’t become a vehicle, in a deal with the Senate, for blanket amnesty? 

No, we can’t. With massive costs to taxpayers and carve-outs for special interests, the Senate-passed bill eerily resembles Obamacare in its unnecessary complexity. Even House members who correctly view the Senate’s “comprehensive” bill as a failed approach must be cognizant of the push to use any House-passed measure as a means to enact the Senate provisions. If conversations begin between the House and Senate on a compromise, major sections of the Senate bill—including amnesty—will be part of that deal.

4. Does Congress need to pass new legislation to secure the border and strengthen interior enforcement? 

CONTINUED: http://blog.heritage.org/2013/08/07/morning-bell-5-immigration-questions-for-your-congressman/?utm_source=heritagefoundation&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=&utm_content=&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell

Immigration Activists and Concerned Citizens,

A number of big donors, large cheap labor industry groups, and some conservative groups masquerading as truly being concerned for the USA have been running ads in the media and want an amnesty for illegal immigrants, a doubling of current legal immigration from one million persons per year to two million plus, and pretend this is going to be a wonderful thing for the USA.

The high-tech industry, the United Nations Chamber of Commerce (formerly the US Chamber of Commerce), the Koch Brothers affiliates, Americans for a Conservative Direction (funded in large part by Mark Zuckerburg of Facebook who funneled big bucks to Obama) and other groups have been paying for media spots on radio and TV to support mass immigration and amnesty.  Ask yourself whey these groups would spend big bucks on radio and TV spots unless they had something to gain from mass immigration?

I suppose they forgot to explain to the over twenty million citizens in the USA who are either unemployed or are working part-time but want and cannot find a full-time job how large numbers of legal immigrants (also needing jobs) and giving legal work permits and an amnesty to illegal immigrants will lower the unemployment rate (note the Congressional Budget Office has already said increases in immigration will increase unemployment and drive down wages in the U.S.

We also are being told how mass immigration to the U.S. and an amnesty will grow our economy.  It is true that people buy “stuff”, but we can sell them stuff where they are —- we don’t have to move everyone physically to the USA.  Actually it’s very inefficient to do so —- sell them stuff where they now live overseas and we won’t have to raise taxes to build more new schools and roads and bridges in the U.S. just for large numbers of immigrants (by the way our existing roads and bridges are crumbling from lack of attention).  With high unemployment how is it taxpayer efficient to have mass immigration while we provide unemployed citizens with public benefits longer and the unemployed have little to spend in the ecnomy? The “grow the economy with mass immigration” mantra is just voodoo economics, as it benefits companies who want cheap labor and those who want to drive down wages in the USA in general.  I could rob a bank and buy my wife a fur coat and a Lincoln and claim I was growing the economy, but that would be unlawful and not be good policy, just like the bad public policy of amnesty along with more mass immigration.

Regards,

Ron Woodard
Director
NC LISTEN

www.nclisten.com

(919) 460-8156