Posted on 07/11/2013 5:57:08 AM PDT by cotton1706
The White House and their congressional allies believe that the Senate immigration bill can be used as a political cudgel against House Republicans.
They are wrong. If Republicans do the right thing, they will not only turn the immigration debate on its head but will begin the essential drive to regain the trust of working Americans.
We already know that the public repudiates the Gang of Eight’s amnesty-first model by a 4–1 margin. Less discussed is the public’s broad opposition to the large increases in low-skill immigration — and its impact on jobs and wages — that lies at the heart of the Senate proposal.
In their zeal to rush this 1,200-page train wreck through the Senate with as many votes as possible, Democrat leadership whipped every single member of their conference. After over four years of the Obama presidency, wages have continued their painful decline. But the same Democrat senators who attacked President Bush for declining wages have suddenly fallen silent.
And so, with unanimous Democrat support, the Senate adopted a bill that adds four times more guest workers than the rejected 2007 plan at a time when 4.3 million more Americans are out of work and 20 million more Americans are on food stamps. The proposal also grants immediate work authorization to those here illegally while dramatically boosting permanent levels of annual legal immigration in the future. Based on Congressional Budget Office data, the bill would grant permanent residency to 46 million mostly lower-skill immigrants by 2033.
The result? CBO says wages would fall for the next dozen years, unemployment would rise, and per-capita GNP would be lower for the next quarter century.
Strikingly, wages are lower today than in 1999. Median household income has declined 8 percent. One in seven recent college graduates is unemployed. One in three Americans without a high-school diploma can’t find work. The Senate immigration bill — written by the White House, Democrat leadership and supported by the entire Democrat conference — sacrifices the economic interests of these Americans in deference to the politicians and business interest who want lower-cost labor.
If there is any lesson for the GOP to learn from 2012, it’s that we must do a better job fighting for and connecting with working Americans of all backgrounds — immigrant and native-born alike — whose wages have fallen and whose employment opportunities have increasingly diminished.
In pushing for this bill, the Left has abandoned and taken for granted the struggling worker. By doing the right thing on immigration, the GOP can distance our party from the corporate titans who believe the immigration policy for our entire country should be modeled to pad their bottom line.
Consider this story relayed in a recent New York Times article:
Since John Vretis was let go by an electronics company in November, he has made it through the first and second cut of applicants at several companies near his home in Moline, Ill. But Mr. Vretis has yet to receive an offer. He recently interviewed at a metals company that is adding 25 workers a month, but was told it had 4,000 applicants for those positions. ‘I’m 55 and I know that’s an issue,’ said Mr. Vretis, who holds an associate’s degree in accounting.
With all due respect to Mr. Zuckerberg, Mr. Rove, and the Chamber of Commerce, there is not a shortage of workers in America. There is a shortage of jobs.
The failed 1986 amnesty has been much and rightly discussed throughout the current immigration debate. But there is an even more poignant lesson to be drawn from the Reagan years: One thing that made President Reagan such an exceptional leader was the clarity and courage with which he gave a fresh voice to the economic concerns and needs of his time.
The GOP is presented with such a moment now. The White House has made its central legislative priority a bill that would result in decades of stagnant wages, stubborn unemployment, and increasing poverty. Instead of joining in that destructive effort, the GOP should reject it and demand reforms that encourage self-sufficiency and promote rising wages.
Both as a matter of economic policy and social policy, the best course for America is one that helps more of our residents move off of welfare, off of unemployment, and into good-paying jobs. We can’t simply ignore the large number of chronically underemployed Americans. Immigration policy should promote — not inhibit — individual opportunity and community confidence.
The Senate immigration bill is Obamacare’s 1,200-page legislative cousin. It is a disaster on every level. Republicans should make no effort to salvage it or to offer even the slightest hope of revival. Instead, we should draw sharp and bold contrasts that earn the loyalty of our faithful supporters and the newfound respect of the millions of working Americans who have turned away.
This article puts Jeff Sessions in the top-tier with Cruz. Maybe there’s a silver lining to Rubio being a traitorous jerk....perhaps more US Senators will start speaking for US citizens, after elections are over.
If Nobama spent just an inth of the effort he has spent on helping the muslin bruthahood we all would be fully employed.
Shit can the Senate bill. Write a short bill that builds the fence NOW, and deals with visa overstays ( on entry to US you get thumb printed, clock starts. If you haven’t left when the clock runs out, if we catch you, deportation, NO REENTRY).
Once we stop the bleeding we can have a process to deal with those illegals already here. Not until we are SURE we have control of the situation. This would be popular with most indys, Rats and Repubs.
The only ones it won’t please is the GOP cheap labor elite and the RAT new dependent voter elite.
” the essential drive to regain the trust of working Americans”?
The Republican party?
ya gots to be kidding here right??
Ole dem freaken lite?
A-holes like Lindsey graham?
Juan Boehner?
Mitch McConnel?
Amen, dump Kennedy’s immigration policies, which are invasion plans for the war on American culture and politics, not to mention jobs and our tax dollars.
Sessions really gets it. Freepers were all over me and other Santorum supporters in 2012 because he was the only one who refused to drink the free trader Kool-Aid and show some concern about protecting American jobs. Looks like Sen. Sessions in another.
"If there is any lesson for the GOP to learn from 2012, it’s that we must do a better job fighting for and connecting with working Americans of all backgrounds — immigrant and native-born alike — whose wages have fallen and whose employment opportunities have increasingly diminished."
Yep. Look at some of key the states we lost in the 2012 presidential: Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, etc. These aren't southern border states. The GOP failed to connect with enough working class voters (and Reagan Democrats).
Instead of having a consistent message on this key issue, the GOP nominated a wealthy hedge fund manager who was building an elevator for his luxury cars at a time in which millions of Americans were struggling to get by...
If they really wanted to turn the debate on its head, they’d stop referring to them as immigrants and start referring to them as what they really are: COLONISTS.
HAH! That'll be the day. The GOP is not called the Stupid Party for nothing.
BTTY!
God bless Jeff Sessions!
Its a pathetic situation we’re in when those congressman & senators willing to speak out for the American taxpayer can be counted on ONE HAND.
Yes, Sessions has emerged as the best Senator on immigration. He should be commended and encouraged.
I just wish he’d come out and call for an end to the absurd Diversity Visa Lottery, and and end to chain migration, and a drastic cut back on refugee settlements. Perhaps he has done some of that before. To me it would make him nearly perfect on immigration.
Sessions is by far the best man in D.C. A true, courageous Southern gentleman. He is always on the side of “We the people”.
Here’s my solution, from my homepage...
___________________________________________________________________
Whenever an illegal alien kills someone in a drunk driving accident or something similar, here’s what I recommend:
What can we do about it? Here’s my standard post.
RICO —Citizen Recourse
Private persons and entities may initiate civil suits to obtain injunctions and treble damages against enterprises that conspire to or actually violate federal alien smuggling, harboring, or document fraud statutes, under the Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO). The pattern of racketeering activity is defined as commission of two or more of the listed crimes. A RICO enterprise can be any individual legal entity, or a group of individuals who are not a legal entity but are associated in fact, and can include nonprofit associations.
Here’s what I’ve been pushing: it’s time to file Racketeering, Influencing, and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) lawsuits.
RICO lawyers could turn it around in a few years and MAKE MONEY at the same time. I’m surprised they haven’t done it already.
In the absence of enforcement, we can get the word out in the meantime that there is money to be made in filing RICO lawsuits against employers who hire illegal aliens like this jerk.
Employers would have no trouble shutting down the border if they could get sued by someone under the RICO statutes for hiring these people in the first place. The next time an illegal alien kills someone in a drunk driving accident or somesuch thing, I’m going to point out that the victim’s family might be able to seek compensation from the employer under these statutes in the hopes that it would catch on. If this did catch on, would see such a swift backlash against illegal immigration that no employer would go near these people and they’ll all simply want to go back home.
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.