John Boehner's Curious Stand on Immigration Reform

Speaker of the House John Boehner refused to tell Bob Schieffer on Face the Nation this morning where he stood on immigration reform.

A real titan of a speaker, that one.

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Reuters:

House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner refused on Sunday to say whether a comprehensive immigration overhaul should include a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, declaring that the House debate is “not about me.”

Boehner, appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” dodged repeated attempts to get him to spell out his personal views on a path to citizenship for up to 11 million illegal immigrants now in the United States, a major point of contention between the House and the Democratic-led Senate.

“It’s not about me, it’s not about what I want,” said Boehner, an Ohio Republican. “This about allowing the House to work its will.”

The Senate has passed a sweeping, bipartisan immigration bill that includes a pathway to citizenship, which Republican opponents have called an “amnesty” that would reward lawbreakers and attract more illegal immigrants.

Boehner said taking a personal stand on the issue would make it harder for him to find consensus on immigration in the House.

“If I come out and say, ‘I’m for this and I’m for that,’ all I’m doing is making my job harder,” Boehner said. “My job in this process is to facilitate a discussion and to facilitate a process.”

Boehner said the sweeping Senate bill would not pass the House and reiterated that the House would tackle the issue in smaller “chunks” that would include stricter provisions on border protection.

“We want to deal with this in chunks, chunks that the members can deal with and grapple with, and frankly chunks that the American people can get their arms around,” he said.

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One would think that the highest ranking Republican in the land might want to lead from the front. We’ve already got a president that leads from behind.

What this reveals is the pathetic nature of Boehner’s speakership; few like him, few follow him. Not revealing where he stands on any issue is a plus because there are probably several members who would vote the opposite of his position just to spite him.

And if there’s any doubt about just how much of a disaster this man is as speaker, here’s a defining quote:

With polls showing public approval of Congress at near record lows, Boehner was asked how he felt to have presided over the least productive and one of the least popular Congresses.

“We should not be judged by how many new laws we create. We ought to be judged on how many laws we repeal,” Boehner said.

How many laws have Republicans repealed under your leadership, John? Even if the comment wasn’t incredibly stupid, the fact that the GOP have repealed exactly zero laws makes Boehner a failure by his own standards.

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The Republicans are taking the right approach on immigration reform — far more prudent than the massive Democratic disaster. And they’re doing it with zero input and assistance from the speaker of the House.

Like I said – a real titan.

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