Immigration "overhaul" legislation...
* AMNESTY...
...has been dormant in the House for months, but a few
Republicans are working behind the scenes to advance it...
* AMNESTY...
...at a time the Capitol is immersed in a partisan brawl
over government spending and President Barack Obama's health care law.
The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Bob
Goodlatte, has been discussing possible legal status for the estimated 11
million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. He's also been working with
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a fellow Virginia Republican, on a bill
offering citizenship to immigrants brought illegally to the U.S. as children.
* FOLKS... I'M NOT SAYING I'M AGAINST ALL PROPOSALS FOR
DEALING WITH THOSE WHO WERE ILLEGALLY BROUGHT TO OUR COUNTRY WITHOUT HAVING HAD
ANY SAY IN THE MATTER, BUT... I DON'T TRUST CONGRESS. I SIMPLY DON'T TRUST THAT
THEY'LL REQUIRE REASONABLE STANDARDS AND PROOF OF MEETING SUCH STANDARDS PRIOR
TO PASSING LEGISLATION. I WOULD WANT ANY BILL TO BE SMALL ENOUGH AND SIMPLE
ENOUGH FOR THE AVERAGE AMERICAN TO READ AND UNDERSTAND AND DECIDE FOR HIMSELF
OR HERSELF WHETHER HE OR SHE APPROVES. THAT'S WHAT I'M CALLING FOR.
Reps. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, and Ted Poe, R-Texas, are
working on a plan to create a visa program allowing more lower-skilled workers
into the country.
* WHY...?!?! WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH AMERICANS UNEMPLOYED
AND UNDEREMPLOYED? HOW'BOUT PROVIDING THESE JOBS LOWER-SKILLED IMMIGRANTS WOULD
TAKE TO AMERICANS IN NEED INSTEAD? ABLE-BODIED WELFARE RECIPIENTS SHOULD BE
FORCED TO TAKE ANY JOB AVAILABLE OR BE CUT OFF FROM WELFARE! AMERICAN JOBS FOR
AMERICANS!
Goodlatte and the chairman of the House Homeland Security
Committee, Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, hold out hopes for floor action by late
October on a series of immigration bills that already have passed their
committees.
* WHAT'S A REASONABLY SIZED BILL...? OUR ORIGINAL
CONSTITUTION - WITH THE BILL OF RIGHTS - WAS WHAT... FOUR PAGES? NO BILL SHOULD
BE MORE THAN 8-10-12 PAGES SAYS MY GUT; MAX... MAYBE 20 PAGES. LET'S SEE WHAT
THESE GOODLATTE AND MCCAUL BILLS SAY...
"I would think that would be the next agenda item in
the queue after we're done with this mess," McCaul said this past week,
referring to bitter divisions over the health law, the level of government
spending and the growing federal debt.
The attention of House GOP leaders seems certain to
remain squarely focused on the fiscal disputes until they are resolved, leaving
immigration on a back burner for some time to come. But lawmakers and outside
advocates insist that three months after the Democratic-led Senate passed a
sweeping immigration bill, the issue is showing signs of life in the
Republican-run House.
"Despite the appearance that would suggest everyone
in Washington is focused on one thing, work is going on on other issues beneath
the radar," said Tamar Jacoby, head of ImmigrationWorks USA, a coalition
of small businesses that supports comprehensive immigration legislation.
* WHY MUST IT BE COMPREHENSIVE? WHY NOT GO STEP BY STEP?
(ANSWER: BECAUSE THEY WANNA RAM CRAP DOWN OUR THROATS!)
Goodlatte has made it clear he wants to see the issue
solved.
* AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HAVE MADE IT CLEAR THEY'RE
AGAINST BLANKET AMNESTY!
Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and other members of the
House Republican leadership also support a resolution to an issue that has
become a political drag for their party.
* A "RESOLUTION," HUH? THE DEVIL IS IN THE
DETAILS! LET'S SEE THE DETAILS!
House leaders have said they plan a step-by-step
approach, in contrast to the comprehensive Senate bill that added billions of
dollars in new spending on border security, remade the legal immigration system
from top to bottom and created a 13-year path to citizenship for the millions
living here illegally.
* SO FAR SO GOOD...
McCaul's committee has approved a border security bill.
* GOOD. LET'S SEE IT!
Goodlatte's committee has signed off on legislation
addressing a range of issues, including visas for high-skilled workers and
enforcement of immigration laws.
* I WANT ALL THE HIGH-SKILLED WORKERS WE NEED... WHOM WE
CAN GET... BUT HIGH-SKILLED AMERICANS MUST GET PRIORITY!
But so far, there's been no House GOP bill taking on the
trickiest policy issue for Republicans: what to do about those already here
illegally.
* HOW'BOUT WE SELL (OR LEASE!) THE CRIMINAL ILLEGALS TO
CHINA AS SLAVE LABOR? YOU KNOW... THE RAPISTS, MURDERERS, THIEVES... THOSE WHO
WE'RE PRESENTLY SQUANDERING MONEY ON VIA OUR CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM!
A bill in the works by Cantor and Goodlatte would offer
eventual citizenship to immigrants brought here as children.
* WHAT'S A CHILD TODAY? 26 OR UNDER? (SERIOUSLY... LET'S
DEFINE TERMS!)
The proposal appears have support from a fair number of
Republicans.
* SO DO UNBALANCED BUDGETS! WHAT'S THE AUTHOR'S
POINT...?!?!
But many Republicans are wary of backing anything broader
that could be perceived as "amnesty" for people who broke U.S.
immigration laws to be in this country.
There's no guarantee House Republicans ever will offer a
bill to resolve that issue, much less bring it to the floor for a vote. Still,
Goodlatte has outlined in some detail what he would like to see in such a bill,
and his approach may contain the seeds of compromise:
Goodlatte would allow immigrants here illegally to obtain
legal work status...
* THUS JUMPING THE LINE! (HOW'BOUT ALL THOSE LAW-ABIDING
FOREIGNERS WAITING PATIENTLY ABROAD TO ENTER OUR COUNTRY AND OUR SYSTEM
LEGALLY?)
...and from there, they could use the existing routes to
citizenship: marrying a U.S. citizen or getting sponsored by an employer or
U.S. citizen relative.
* WHAT IS THIS "SPONSORSHIP" NONSENSE? MUST
THEY POST SUBSTANTIAL BONDS... ENOUGH MONEY TO PROVIDE FOR A "FAILED"
IMMIGRANT AND SO AVOID THE POSSIBILITY OF THIS LEGAL ALIEN TO GO ON PUBLIC
ASSISTANCE OF ANY SORT?
Such an approach would allow Republicans to deal with
millions of people in the U.S. illegally without bestowing a so-called special
path to citizenship as the Senate did...
* A DISTINCTION WITH LITTLE DIFFERENCE IN OUTCOME!
Depending on how it's structured, Goodlatte's approach
could ultimately result in citizenship for perhaps as many as 7 million
immigrants now here illegally...
* AMNESTY...
"It gives the Republicans a way out and it gets us
to where we want to go," said Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, who met
recently with Goodlatte along with Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., to discuss
immigration.
* THE DEMS WANT AMNESTY... AND SO DO FAR TOO MANY RINOs.
"The Republicans have some people that want zero, we
got some folks on our side that want 100%, but eventually we've got to sit down
and talk," Cuellar said.
* HOW'BOUT THE CREAM OF THE CROP...? WHY AREN'T WE
SHOOTING FOR 10%?
Goodlatte's staff declined to make him available for an
interview...
(*SMIRK*)
...but at a forum this month with Latino GOP leaders...
(*ROLLING MY EYES*)
...he defended his approach. "That will not result
in every single person who came here unlawfully getting all the way to
citizenship, but I feel very strongly in my conversations with people it would
be a major solution to the problem," he said.
* LET'S... SEE... THE... LEGISLATION...!!!
House Democratic leaders have grown impatient with
Republicans' inaction and are looking at introducing a sweeping immigration
bill of their own — a modified version of the legislation that passed the
Senate — in an effort to pressure the GOP.
* LET 'EM! LET 'EM PUT THEMSELVES ON RECORD!
Advocates are promising rallies and protests around the
country Oct. 5 to keep up pressure.
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