Whose Team Are The House Republican Leadership On?

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers is #4 in the House GOP leadership. Last week, Speaker John Boehner was caught on tape mocking his fellow Republicans because they have legitimate concerns about “comprehensive immigration reform” and the basic rule of law during the Obama years. One would think that the reaction to Boehner would at least have set McMorris Rodgers back a bit, but nope. She came out declaring that Obamacare is here to stay that there will be an immigration reform deal with the president by August.

Cited as a priority issue by many members of Congress and Obama, 2013 came and went without an immigration package, to the chagrin of many advocacy groups.

McMorris Rodgers said she still thinks a deal could be struck before the election. “I believe there is a path that we get a bill on the floor by August,” she said.

A bipartisan plan was passed in the Senate last spring but made no headway in the Republican-controlled House. McMorris Rodgers echoed the concern brought up by many in the chamber, saying she wants to see stronger border security. But she said she’d support a bill that grants legal status to those undocumented immigrants working toward citizenship, allowing them to remain in the country to work and go to school while they wait their turn in the current system.

“We’re going to have to push that this is a legal status, not amnesty,” she said.

So, just before the election, the Republican leadership wants to push a bill that is a guaranteed divider for their own party, and could hand President Obama a big policy victory. Or, at the least, hand him something that he will claim as a policy victory.

Set the substance of the issues aside for a moment. Who thinks it’s a good idea to irritate your own supporters the way both Boehner and McMorris Rodgers are now doing?  Why go out of their way to demoralize their own team?

In the span of less than a week, two of the leaders of the only part of government the Republicans control are signalling that they’re done advancing core Republican priorities. Two have done it, so we’re not just looking at slips of the tongue.

Which team are McMorris Rodgers and Boehner on? Whose team jersey do they think they’re wearing? If they wanted to demotivate Team Republican going in to a crucial mid-term which many in the party’s base believe will be make-or-break for the rule of law, they have done a bang-up job. If they wanted to blur the distinctions between the parties at a time when painting in bright lines is the way to go, they’re succeeding.

I’ll tell you what these statements tell me. The GOP leadership has already sold out the base and the Tea Party to the business interests that want amnesty. They will cut a deal, if not by August, then certainly, definitely in the lame duck session after the mid-terms.

McMorris Rodgers denies that she is pushing amnesty, but she is pushing amnesty because she is counting on Barack Obama to keep his end of whatever deal is passed. They will put Texas in play for the Democrats far sooner than the natural demographics will, and will not make meaningful inroads with Hispanic voters, but will hurt the party with its base.

They’re slitting the GOP’s throat, more or less.