The Senate of the
United States passed the immigration bill last month, and the U.S. House of
Representatives is now discussing various aspects of immigration. All we hear is that our immigration system is
“broken” and must be fixed. The system
is not broken, but the enforcement of our present laws is “broken.” If our current laws were enforced, we would
not need a brand new law; we would need only some minor tweaking of the current
laws if anything at all.
William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard, and Rich Lowry,
editor of National Review, are two
conservatives who rarely agree with each other about immigration; however, they
both agree that the immigration bill passed by our Senate “is a comprehensive
mistake. House Republicans should kill
it without reservation.” The two men
authored an article entitled “Kill the Bill” which explained
why they think the bill is a terrible mistake.
“There
is no case for the bill, and certainly no urgency to pass it. During the debate over immigration in
2006-07, Republican rhetoric at times had a flavor that communicated a
hostility to immigrants as such. That
was a mistake, and it did political damage.
This time has been different. The
case against the bill has been as responsible as it has been damning.
“It’s
become clear that you can be pro-immigrant and pro-immigration, and even favor
legalization of the 11 million illegal immigrants who are here and increases in
some categories of legal immigration – and vigorously oppose this bill.”
The
authors listed the “fatal” deficiencies in the bill. 1) “It doesn’t solve the illegal-immigration
problem” but is “riddled with exceptions, loopholes, and waivers.” [This sounds like Obamacare!] “The CBO looked at the bill and concluded
that “about 7.5 million illegal immigrants here in ten years.” 2) “Everyone professes to agree that our
system should be tilted toward high-skilled immigration, but the Gang of Eight
bill unleashes a flood of additional low-skilled immigration. The last thing low-skilled native and
immigrant workers already here should have to deal with is wage-depressing
competition from newly arriving workers.”
Our nation does not need more poor people receiving entitlements! 3) “Finally, there is the sheer size of the
bill and the hasty manner in which it was amended and passed.”
The
authors elaborated: “Conservatives have
eloquently and convincingly made the case against bills like this during the
Obama years. Such bills reflect a
mistaken belief in central planning and in practice become a stew of deals,
payoffs, waivers, and special-interest breaks.
Why would House Republicans now sign off on this kind of lawmaking? If you think Obamacare and Dodd-Frank are
going swimmingly, you’ll love the Gang of Eight bill. It’s the opposite of conservative reform,
which simplifies and limits government, strengthens the rule of law, and
empowers citizens.
“There
is no rush to act on immigration….”
The
article concluded: “House Republicans
may wish to pass incremental changes to the system to show that they have their
own solutions, even though such legislation is very unlikely to be taken up by
the Senate. Or they might not even bother,
since Senate Democrats say such legislation would be dead on arrival. In any case, House Republicans should make
sure not to allow a conference with the Senate bill. House Republicans can’t find any true common
ground with that legislation. Passing
any version of the Gang of Eight’s bill would be worse public policy than
passing nothing. House Republicans can
do the country a service by putting a stake through its heart.”
The Washington Post
reported that
Democrats are targeting Republicans in the House. “If there is a vote on comprehensive
immigration reform with a path to citizenship in the House, it will pass with a
bipartisan majority. If all but a
handful of the House Democrats vote yes, and at least 20 Republicans from the
list below come along, reform can easily clear the 218 necessary to pass the
lower chamber. Looking at the list of 99
House Republicans below, it’s clear that capturing those 20 or so Republican
votes is well within reach.”
The
“target list includes several different groups of Republicans.” 1) “Republicans with growing numbers of
Latino and Asian constituents…..” 2)
“Republicans with agricultural or high-tech interests in their districts….” 3)
“Republicans who understand the need for the Party to tackle immigration reform
for its own future….”
Alaska’s
own Representative Don Young is one of those Republicans that have been
targeted. Alaska’s numbers of Latino
constituents is apparently “growing” and has reached the huge number of 5.50%
of Alaskans. Since both our Senators
voted for the Senate immigration bill, Alaskans would be wise to contact
Congressman Young and make sure he knows how you feel about the Senate bill.
The Heritage Foundation listed ten
problems with the Gang of Eight bill. 1)
“Grants amnesty to 11.5 million illegal immigrants, encouraging more
law-breaking in the future.” 2) “Border
security `triggers.’ [The bill] authorizes billions of spending with no
guarantee of border security.” 3) “Cost
to taxpayers. Trillions of dollars go to
government services for those who get amnesty.”
4) “Spending. [The bill] worsens
our entitlement spending and debt crisis.”
5) “Bureaucracy expansion. [There
will be] more government offices, task forces, and commissions.” 6) “Sweeping powers for Homeland Security
[are] hidden in the 1,000-page bill.” 7)
“Unfair. More than 4 million people are
waiting to come to U.S. legally. 8)
“Disregard for federalism. [The bill]
hinders states from meeting local needs.”
9) “Special interests and ear marks. [The bill contains] pork project
and [is] a boon for lawyers. 10) “Fails
on opportunity. [The bill] fosters
dependence on government.”
No comments:
Post a Comment