Posted on 06/17/2013 6:53:05 AM PDT by cotton1706
House Speaker John Boehner is not going to bring a comprehensive immigration-reform plan to the floor if a majority of Republicans don't support it, sources familiar with his plans said.
"No way in hell," is how several described the chances of the speaker acting on such a proposal without a majority of his majority behind him.
Boehner, R-Ohio, does not view immigration in the same vein as the fiscal cliff last December, when he backed a bill that protected most Americans from a tax increase even though less than half of the GOP lawmakers were with him, said multiple sources, who spoke anonymously to allow greater candor.
With economists warning that the deep cuts and higher taxes needed to avoid the fiscal cliff could devastate an already ailing economy, Boehner felt compelled to compromise with President Obama and allow taxes to rise on the wealthiest taxpayers. He feels no such urgency about immigration reform, lawmakers said.
Sign Up for the Politics Today newsletter! Please enter your email address below to begin receiving the Politics Today newsletter. You must enter a valid email address in the field above! Thank you for signing up for the Politics Today newsletter! You should receive your first newsletter very soon. We're sorry, there was an error processing your newsletter signup. Please click here to visit our Newsletter Signup Center to register for this newsletter. Boehner has long supported an overhaul of U.S. immigration policy and would like the House to act on it before August. But he also understands the issue's political sensitivity and the impact it could have on Republicans in the 2014 mid-term elections.
Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., a former pollster aligned with the GOP leadership, said Boehner will not approach to immigration reform the same way he did the fiscal cliff tax bill, or the Violence Against Women Act, which also passed with a minority of the majority.
"I just don't think that's the winning formula here," Cole told The Washington Examiner. "What the speaker wants to do is have a hopefully bipartisan product -- certainly one that has the majority of Republicans -- pass the House. This has got too much emotional, political impact and I think it really has to be genuinely bipartisan."
The Senate is debating the bipartisan "Gang of Eight" proposal, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is pubhsing for a final vote before the July 4 recess.
The House also is creating its own a bipartisan comprehensive plan, authored by four Democrats and three Republicans, but it is also advancing multiple bills of much narrower scope that will deal with individual Republican priorities like border enforcement.
Democratic and progressive immigration reform advocates remain hopeful that the Senate bill, which includes a path to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants already living in the U.S., will be the basis for any final congressional compromise. The Senate bill's citizenship pathway, although arduous, conditional and designed to take 10 to 15 years to achieve, will almost assuredly face opposition from House Republicans.
That is why Boehner, in an interview last Monday, raised eyebrows and excited Democrats when he declined to specifically rule out bringing up an immigration bill that did not have the support of a majority of his majority. The speaker latered clarified his remarks, saying most Republicans would have to support anything brought to the floor.
"My goal is always to bring bills to the floor that have a strong Republican majority," Boehner said. "Immigration reform is a very difficult issue. But I don't intend to bring an immigration bill to the floor that violates what I and what members of my party -- what our principles are."
The practice of bringing to the floor only bills that are supported by the majority of the majority party has become known as the "Hastert Rule," named after former Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., who used that standard as a litmus test. Hastert's successors are free to violate that guideline, as Boehner did on the tax deal, and so conservative activists are now urging House Republicans to incorporate the standard into the body's internal rules to prevent Boehner or his successors from violating it.
Boehner has so far maintained a commitment to moving immigration reform through "regular order," delegating authority over much of the process to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. The speaker has acted behind the scenes to keep the process from sputtering, but otherwise prefers to foster member involvement and encourage as many as possible to introduce bills and legislate.
One GOP strategist noted that Boehner is navigating a different set of dynamics than Reid in the Senate. In particular, House Republicans are likely to suffer a greater voter backlash in the 2014 elections is they back the wrong immigration reform bill than they would if they simply did nothing on the issue.
"There is no national crisis with an artificial deadline the president can trump up and trot out on the nightly news," the GOP strategist said. "Boehner is under no pressure to put the Senate bill on the floor."
Rumor has it that the president and the democrats want immigration reform to fail in the House so they'll have the campaign issue. But I don't care about their political strategies. This bill must be killed!
It must not even come to a vote in the house.
After 20 or 30 years, waiting till after the midterms won’t kill us but it might just wipe out the democrat senate.
“My goal is always to bring bills to the floor that have a strong Republican majority,” Boehner said.”
or whatever master obama tells him...
Back during the great depression, Herbert Hoover ordered the deportation of ALL illegal aliens in order to make jobs available to American citizens that desperately needed work.
Harry Truman deported over two million illegal aliens after WWII to create jobs for returning veterans.
In 1954 Dwight Eisenhower deported 13 million Mexicans. The program was called Operation Wetback. It was done so WWII and Korean War veterans would have a better chance at jobs. It took two years, but they deported them!
I hope AND PRAY that this is true. And I hope AND PRAY that a strong majority of House Republicans will not support bringing immigration reform to a vote.
This could actually be the start of Boehner’s redemption and the start of strong conservative Republican successes in the 2016 election.
Hey John, here’s an idea - how about figuring out whether or not it’s good for the country, and then acting accordingly?
Boehner will cave.
It needs to be killed in the senate. Too bad they can’t attach an amendment that would cut senate staff funding by 50%
Here in OH, I like to ask the HOR reps and the US Senators specifically: How concerned are you that under-employed and unemployed US citizens in the minority and lower middle class neighborhoods are going to be kept out of the job market with continuing competition from foreign labor? Aren't you concerned that inner city neighborhoods could explode in violence with an even larger non-citizen population moving in? (ps: in Cleveland it already has)
Put it right on them: they are responsible for the inner city chaos when they support unnecessary foreign labor! Get the blacks on our side on this one.
The other thing, learn to speak up. If anyone is foolish enough to ask me, I say I'm saddened to see that hispanics here on the "Dream Act" have replaced inner-city east siders (ie: blacks) at the local Panera and McDonalds.
Boehner views his role as delivering votes for Obama’s agenda.
Boehner MUST go.
Anonymous sources BS.
Here is how it will happen:
1.Boner will pass a very good bill, no amnesty and a strong border fence etc. and will have majority support of pubs.Dems will not vote for it and they will howl. Will pass by narrow margin.
2. Will be sent to conference where good is taken out and crap from senate kept.
3. Send it back to the House. Boner and the rinos will team up with the commie-rats pass it and bam, we got amnesty.
4. USA dies, becomes USSA.
Pretty much spot on.
I have had a sneaking suspicion that this was the case, especially when they tried to add in the same sex partner clause. That way, when Republicans vote against it, they lose the Latino AND gay vote. Maybe the Republicans are seeing through their game.
Brit Hume just on Fox. Says the Latino thing is a red herring. Romney got 30% of Latino vote; Obama 70%. Latinos are 10% of the vote. Says that this makes a difference in a really tight election (Obama won with 50.8% of the vote) but will not decide 2016 if the vote is not close and the Repubs target voters as did Obama.
Until Boehner says this publicly, I won’t believe it.
It appears that the Gang of Eight is just a Puppet Show run by the White House
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.