Posted on 04/21/2013 12:47:56 PM PDT by jazusamo
Some lawmakers fear the failure of gun-control legislation in the Senate could be a bad omen for immigration, deficit reduction and tax reform.
Backers of an expansion of background checks for gun purchases had hoped that the support of a key conservative, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), would win over Republicans and lead to more bipartisan deal-making. Instead, that agreement was defeated, leading to a round of bitter recriminations and vows of political retribution.
The outcome has left many questioning whether the coalitions behind immigration and tax reform are strong enough to overcome the ideological divide in Washington.
“While the issues are [different like] tomatoes and asparagus, the point of the matter is it sets the tone. It sustains an atmosphere of not working together,” said Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), a member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee. “We have not moved closer in any respect in the past four years."
The push for an immigration reform is moving ahead after the unveiling this week of the Gang of Eight proposal in the Senate. The plan earned early praise from lawmakers and organizations across the political spectrum.
Republican and Democratic senators behind the immigration bill insisted that the failure of gun legislation would not sap their momentum.
“I think they’re different,” said Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), a senior Democrat deeply involved in both the immigration and gun issues. “There are many in the conservative movement who want to see an immigration bill done. There are very few in the conservative movement who want to see a gun bill done. That’s, I think, one of the differences.”
In a similar vein, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) suggested this week that immigration reform made more political sense for Republicans than any restrictions on guns.
"The Hispanic community voted 70 percent for the Democrats," Pelosi told reporters, referencing last year's election. "That opens the space in people's minds on the Republican side that perhaps immigration reform was an issue whose time had come."
The bigger threat to the immigration bill might be political fallout from the Boston Marathon bombings, in which the two suspects identified by law enforcement were immigrants. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) mentioned the bombing Friday in the first hearing on the immigration bill in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
In the case of tax reform, Democrats had already grown more pessimistic about the prospects for an agreement, despite the commitment of House Republican leaders to advancing legislation this year.
The Republican chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Dave Camp (Mich.), and the Democratic chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Max Baucus (Mont.), have worked closely together on the issue, but the two parties remain at loggerheads over whether tax reform should bring in more revenue to the government.
Democrats said the failure of the Senate to approve what supporters acknowledged was a modest gun-control bill did not bode well for tax reform.
“The Senate is blocking the gun bill, for heaven’s sake,” Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), another Ways and Means member, told The Hill.
“Now how can you get through a tax bill? Talk about something big. The gun bill’s a little tiny thing. Background checks. And you can’t get it through.”
Liberal Democrats have also grown wary of Baucus, who has been distancing himself from the national party as he gears up for a reelection bid next year. He voted against the Senate Democratic budget resolution and the gun-control bill.
Some top Democrats suggested that they were concerned that lawmakers might believe they could only support changes on so many hot-button issues, with immigration reform and same-sex marriage also moving to the forefront.
The co-author of the background check proposal, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) said Thursday that it would be “reasonable” to conclude that some conservative Democrats stretched too thin, and lacked the “energy” to sell rapid changes in their positions on gay marriage, immigration and guns at the same time.
“You have so many different three-dimensional chess games going on here that you wonder if it’s all about the chess, the moves — instead of the outcomes, who are the winners and losers in the process,” said Rep. John Larson (Conn.), a Ways and Means member and former part of House Democratic leadership.
Pascrell, for instance, thought the gun vote was a bad sign for immigration reform, an area where several top Republican lawmakers and conservative heavyweights want to make progress. Obama had ramped up his personal engagement with Republicans, including repeated phone calls and dinner dates, only to see all but four of them vote against expanding background checks in the Senate.
“The president in his anger yesterday was not only talking about guns and gun violence,” Pascrell told The Hill on Thursday, referring to Obama’s denunciation of the Senate vote. “But he was talking about general atmosphere. Basically, he’s tried to reach out, and he’s gotten kicked in the ass. That’s about it.”
Him AND Toomey!
I sure hope so. Americans could really use a “poisoned well” up on Capitol Hill right now.
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), a senior Democrat deeply involved in both the immigration and gun issues. “There are many in the conservative movement who want to see an immigration bill done. There are very few in the conservative movement who want to see a gun bill done. That’s, I think, one of the differences.”
In a similar vein, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) suggested this week that immigration reform made more political sense for Republicans than any restrictions on guns.
“The Hispanic community voted 70 percent for the Democrats,” Pelosi told reporters, referencing last year’s election. “That opens the space in people’s minds on the Republican side that perhaps immigration reform was an issue whose time had come.”
Rubio. He’s so brilliant taking political advice form such heavyweights.
Oh goody! Another article by intellectual 1/2 wits, requiring dos escritoras
Or perhaps our recent misadventures with two wild-and-crazy guys from Chechnya “poisoned the well” on immigration.
“Rubio. He’s so brilliant taking political advice form such heavyweights.”
Whoa...how did we all miss this?
Marco Rubio Dismisses Tea Party Caucus As A ‘Little Club’ Run By Washington Politicians
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/02/07/142708/rubio-tea-party-caucus/
Freeper, Jabba the Nutt, pointed this out a bit ago. This should have been the first hint that the tea party was being hijacked/used.
Let’s just call it what it is.
Rubio is a manchurian candidate. It was a set up from the beginning to use the tea party to fundraise and get him in office. He was chosen a LONG time ago to push amnesty, to fool conservatives.
Think about this. Rubio hires Grover Norquist’s friend & partner in destroying every immigration enforcement mechanism for 3 decades, Cesar Conda as his chief of staff when he’s a lowly state senator before he was elected to the US Senate....now how much do you think a big GOP power operator like Conda works for? Rubio was handpicked.
Here’s a snip of the article...Rubio is one fast talking lawyer, this is full of lies just like his amnesty excuses.
[snip]Rubio leveled even harsher words at the caucus, dismissing it as a “little club[]” run by politicians that could cause the real movement “to lose its energy”:
HOST: When Michele Bachmann began to create this Tea Party Caucus, I got this really bad taste in my mouth. … You and I see eye-to-eye on this, right? It’s a grassroots movement, right? [...]
RUBIO: Now, specifically about the Tea Party Caucus, the concern that I’ve expressed, is that what I think gives the tea party its strength and its legitimacy in the American political process is that it’s a grassroots movement of everyday Americans. … My fear has always been that if you start creating these little clubs or organizations in Washington run by politicians, the movement starts to lose its energy. Basically, the media will jump on that and start paying attention to that instead of the grass roots movement which is really what has given the tea party its voice. … I don’t want us to anything that kind of changes its grassroots nature. [snip]
LOL...he and his handlers hijack the tea party and he has the NERVE to say he’s afraid it might be use by ‘politicians’....BUT it’s OKAY if it’s highjacked by K st. lobbyists?????
WHO IS CESAR CONDA??
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3007546/posts
Reichsfuhrer Schumer knows that once the 'RATS have 30 million new voters, gun confiscation will be a no brainer.
The RINOs on the gang of eight seem to think immigration reform will make us safer when in fact it'll just legalize terrorists.
Is Chucky on meds/drugs or getting his info from the voices in his head? Millions upon millions of unemployed American citizens and he comes up with this crap!
I told him most Americans no longer trust Congress. This is very dangerous in what is supposed to be a republic. When too many people become too disgusted with rules imposed on them by others who have no connection to their society, they become less attached and devoted to both their neutered State government and the oppressive national government. This is a road map to dissolution of the Union.
Really? I’ve always found calling your friendly opponent a lying evil person who wants children to die an effective tactic when negotiating.
IMO the video of Obama’s little Rose Garden speech was the first time we’ve really seen him angry and surprised that he didn’t get his way.
Let’s hope it did poison the well, that the voice of the American people means something in Congress again, that the seemingly “new normal” procedure of simply announcing that the newest thousand-page bill is ready for voting on NOW is a fad that has outlived its usefulness, and that Obama will continue to be thwarted in his efforts to destroy this country.
I don’t suppose a couple of immigrants blowing people up at the Boston Marathon matters much, no?
That is an absolutely vicious manipulation of his words.
And lastly, they've poisoned it with the allowance of trumped up ‘refugee’ immigrant entries like these two terrorist muslims that blew up the Boston Marathon.....by not admitting they're terrorists part of a cell, one of dozens in this country. That's what's poisoned the well, you bunch of selfish, power-hungry, lazy-assed, greedy politicians. That's what. Go choke on your immigration bill. That includes you too, Rubio.
Rubio is a latino willing to SAY he’s a conservative. That’s what passes for vetting.
He has never shown any visible sign of loyalty or character, just what people hope he’ll be.
Just like the dem voters do with their leader.
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