According to TPM, sorry the Washington Post, blogger Greg Sargent, the commission that is supposed to be comprised of border state governors and officials has about as many teeth as an earthworm.
I’ve now got clarification from Senate staff working on the bill, and it turns out that the enforcement commission’s judgments will only be advisory, and are entirely nonbinding. Congress’ actions will not be dictated by what this commission concludes; neither will actions taken by the Department of Homeland Security. The citizenship process will be triggered by other means (more on this soon).
This is central to the debate. If this commission had the power to dictate when the citizenship process begins, it could endanger the entire enterprise by giving people like Jan Brewer veto power. Second, this enforcement commission is being seen as a major concession Republicans won in exchange for agreeing to grant citizenship to the 11 million.
But the commission isn’t, for all practical purposes, really a major concession at all. If you look at the framework released by the bipartisan group of eight Senators today, it never quite says directly that the citizenship process can’t move forward until the commission reaches its findings. Rather, it says the plan creates a commission that will make a “recommendation” on when border security has been achieved, and doesn’t specify that this recommendation is what triggers the citizenship process.
The commission is being touted as the enforcement side of the Gang of 8′s deal, to make sure that the border is secure before the amnesty process goes into full swing. So the enforcement mechanism in this “tough” bill is a joke. Or a lie. Whatever. It’s Washington.
It is curious why Sen. Marco Rubio has put his name on this lie, though. Sens. McCain and Graham take part in these shams all the time. They’ve made a career of it. Rubio is new to the game.
Typical RINOs. Do they not have a clue what they are doing? It’s the same old crap time after time. We’ll get tough on immigration, then they go and give amnesty to millions (who, by the way, don’t give a rat’s a$$ about this country and will vote dumocrat) and do absolutely nothing to close the border or discourage more illegals from coming. Forget the rule of law. Forget the thousands who try to come here legally only to be slapped in the face by democrats and RINOs alike. The same damn liberals who say the Constitution is old and flawed still point to the saying on the Statue of Liberty – “give me your tired, your poor, blah blah blah” and tell us that we have to continue doing that. God save us from the corrupt and stupid who are in Congress.
The question is not that the current crop of RINOs attached to this immigration “reform” bill, namely John McLame and Lindsay Gramnesty, is going to stick it to conservatives. The question is how large a jar of Vaseline we will need.
Folks, basically, you need to decide if you are willing to fight, and I mean war-fight, to stop the tide of Progressivism. I don’t see how it is done otherwise. The GOP certainly isn’t going to. Maybe someone else can, but nothing I see indicates that. This is a collapsing position, and the MSM knows it.
I repeat again–the national GOP shows no signs of effectively ever doing anything ever again. The states better show some backbone or it a.) gets ugly, or b.) a Progressive boot on the American face, forever.
My alma mater gave John Lewis an award today. Do you think they care that we think he deliberately lied in 2010 about being called a racial slur? Of course not. This is the future–a neo-aristocracy, admittance based upon being black, brown, or Progressive.
Sadly, only the threat of rebellion is going to stop some things. Pick the things you think are important. Some things are probably lost beyond recall, so choose wisely. And above all–the national GOP is worthless. They care far less than you do, just as long as they get re-elected, and they can fool themselves that they are fighting the good fight.
Rubio is trashing his brand. Like all of the other republicans, he has probably calculated that the mafia is in charge and the best he can do is pretend to do programs that follow the Constitution, and grab a crumb here or there. Of course, that is the generous perspective. He may have sold out completely and is now fully on-board the choo-choo express. It’s hard to believe he is simply a naif.
I’ll point out that this “oh, we’ll decide later whether they get in” is going to work as well as the sequestration strategy. As long as somebody, somewhere is caught, there will be no going back–the Dems would love to demonize Republicans who say no.
This “we’ll get you on the back nine” thing by Republicans never works. Remember when the Dems violated House (or Senate, can’t remember) rules in 2007? Clear, incontrovertible. The agreement to investigate in 2008 got swamped by the election of Barack Obama.
You know who Wimpy would have always been able to pull over his “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today” scam on? Republicans, that’s who. Idiots.
You see where the San Diego sherriff thinks the Left can have Americans disarmed within a generation? Just saying.
Anybody notice that Bob Menendez, of Dominican hooker fame, is on this Gang of 8?
Maybe he’s just trying to eliminate some of his travel time and make having sex with underage [illegal] Dominican hookers easier?
What did you expect from the Gang of Eight? Honesty? Truthfulness? God, it’s bad enough that they are all politicians just looking to keep their jobs, but it’s got “Stab ya in the back” Schumer, Duplicitous McCain, McCain’s Minime Graham, and Pederast Menendez, not to mention the ignoramus “2016″ Rubio, as members of the group.
Where’s the House in all this?
They do understand that any House Republican who votes for this will immediately get a well-deserved and successful primary challenge that will end their career, right?
Why isn’t Boehner passing a “militarize the border” law with none of this amnesty stupidity and ending this debate?