Posted on 12/20/2010 11:22:28 AM PST by La Lydia
There is a bit of confusion on the Internet that needs to be cleared up about the Democrats’ plans for the DREAM Act. A number of readers have pointed to a weekend post at FreeRepublic.com warning that the DREAM Act is “hidden” in another bill, H.R. 5281. Senate staff explained to me today that DREAM was passed as an amendment to HR 5281 in the House and it was sent over as a “message,” which gave it privileged status so the Senate didn’t have to vote on a motion to proceed (simply a cloture vote). My Senate staff source added that it essentially gave the Democrats an avenue to bypass a procedural hurdle in the Senate, but since the Senate failed to proceed to the 3rd amendment (the DREAM Act), it is dead and HR 5281 does not include it.
All that said, as you know from my longtime coverage of the open-borders lobby, they never give up...
So while the Senate cloture vote on Saturday killed the stand-alone DREAM Act yet again, no doubt it will be back in some form or another. As I pointed out over the weekend, Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell’s troubling remark that the illegal alien student bailout “should be dealt with next year” opens the door for a Republican version of the bill that forced retiree Utah Sen. Bob Bennett telegraphed last week.
Remember: There are soft-on-illegal-immigration radicals in both parties. Whatever election-year lip service they might pay to border enforcement, none can be trusted to do the right thing without your constant bucking up...
Well, things look clear now.
It seems amnesty is dead this year.
Next year House has GOP majority and a lot of conservatives so I expect them to stop any amnesty non-sense.
Still, we need to get offensive and try to add to budget bill border security resolutions. We can tailor them so that voting against them is difficult for dems and at least exposes them.
More fruitful action is to go after Senator Lugar. He is number 1 target who must be defeated primaries at any cost. This way we can get rid of him, and make sure other potential fencesitters get scared enough to forget amnesty.
It seems amnesty is dead this year.’
Phew, I’m so glad, there were so many days of this year left...
It wouldn’t even get out of the House Judiciary Committee for the next two years. Lamar Smith will be chairman and he is firmly rule of law and border security.
Grandma Conservative and FreeRepublic rock. Those Bustards in Congress do not.
I pinged Grandma on her thread, too.
Michelle has done great work on the amnesty issues for years now. One aspect she did not address is: what will be the general stance on these issues of the new House of Representatives next year? Maybe it’s too early to have a good read on it, but I hope it will be a return to the days when any amnesty scheme was DOA in the House, as it was under Republican control pre-2006 mid-term elections.
And that reminds me how positively giddy W was after the big Republican losses of November 2006, just giddy to work with the new Dim majorities on his amnesty schemes. Thankfully, those attempts were defeated.
It is hardly a secret. If you know who the House Judiciary Committee and Immigration Subcommittee chairs are going to be, under the Republicans, you know that the focus is going to be on enforcement and border security, not amnesty. Dems will continued to introduce idiot legislation, but it will go no where.
We might be surprised who is buying into the “enforcement first” advocacy, and then realize what they might support after they declare that the borders are more secure. That’s just what McConnell and others are saying about the future of the Dream Act. I’ve read of quite a few recently, politicians and commentators, who say the DA amnesties might be possible in the future.
Few if any are talking about the conditions necessary to cause significant self-deportation, which is the only practical solution to dealing with those already illegally in the US. Well, other than another amnesty.
If a real, longer range enforcement and self-deportation strategy is not adopted and pursued, we might be right back in the same situation of constant amnesty bills in a few years. And, one of the worst things that could happen is the election of another amnesty pushing Republican president. The prospective candidates all seem to be mealy mouthing and dancing around these issues for now.
As far as I know, the leadership in the Senate, where McConnell is, won’t change. Leahy will still be chair of the Judiciary Committee. But I do not see any way the DREAM Act is going to get through the House in the next two years. Not going to happen. Please do a little reading up on Lamar Smith and Steve King and their longstanding views on immigration. I don’t expect surprises from them, and other than that, I don’t think I understand what you are trying to say.
Not many conservatives were elected this year. Both parites kept them from being elected while they allowed the RINOS to be elected.
The committee chairmen can bottle up any attempts at pro-amnesty legislation, but they can’t require the full House to pass pro-enforcement legislation. Hopefully the new House make-up will enable it to pass a few new pro-enforcement measures, though they might not make it through the Senate for the next two years. But all those Dim senators up in 2012 need an opportunity take a stand on pro-enforcement bills.
Republicans need to turn this thing around and become reasonably pro-active over the next couple of years, and the House will have to set that in motion.
Amnesty no matter how they label it is more a form by both parties to control everyone by threat rather than what it actually means.
There are 14 days for them to still wreck havoc upon our Nation. The insane food bill was past by consensus no recorded votes, to hide the traitors names.
Don’t let up, they won’t.
I still have no clue what you are trying to say. Lamar Smith is the author of the majority of immigration-law enforcement legislation over the past 16 years and has been very successful in getting it enacted. He is a skilled legislator. There are 21 Senate Democrats up for re-election in 2012, a fact that will tend to concentrate their minds, I think, on that side of the Capitol.
Being an illegal alien should be a felony. Charge them, adjudicate them, deport them, ban them for life from ever entering the USA again for any reason. Illegal re-entry should be a capital crime.
I’m saying that once a bill leaves his committee, Lamar Smith has one vote, just like every other member of the House. It will be good to learn how fully the new House members will support a more pro-active approach to immigration enforcement.
You are putting an inordinate amount of confidence in one member of the House.
Well I am not going to do your research for you. But the information is there if someone wants to go after it. They all have legislative histories. Interesting that you discount the capabilities of skilled legislators.
It takes 218 votes to pass a bill in the House. We do not yet know where many of the new members stand on all issues. We will learn that as they convene and begin to join in the debates and votes.
And, no research is necessary since committee chairmen do not control the votes of House members, and this group is believed to be more independent than most new groups.
But if you think that knowledge of committee chairmen is all that is necessary to understand the House, then think that.
Ping!
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