John Boehner's legendary lack of courage finally pays off with stalled "E-Verify" legislation

Coach is Right ^ | 3/11/2012 | Doug Book

[Oldpuppymax]

John Boehner has been criticized for exhibiting less than courageous behavior in dealings with Eric Holder, Barack Obama and most of the Democrat Party.

Yet the Speaker’s well-known lack of intestinal fortitude might be the only thing preserving the right of states like Arizona to make and enforce their own laws dealing with illegal aliens and the businesses which employ them.

Last year, the House of Representatives, led by Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, advanced H.R. 2885, the Legal Workforce Act which if passed into law would “…require all employers to use the federal E-Verify program to identify fake or stolen Social Security numbers used by illegal workers.” (1)

Passed out of the Judiciary Committee in September, the bill has remained in the Ways and Means Committee ever since, stalled it is said by order of Speaker John Boehner.

Any number of Republican politicians and conservative websites have been up in arms over Boehner’s unwillingness to bring HR 2885 to the House floor for a vote. (2)

After all, what could possibly be bad about legislation which would help to identify illegals, expose stolen Social Security card rackets and fine or jail employers keeping illegals gainfully employed even though they are in the country contrary to the laws of the land. Seems like a border defender’s dream come true!

But HR 2885 contains a “Preemption” clause which says state and local government would no longer be permitted to enforce...

[Joe Boucher]

Just wrote Boehner’s office telling him to allow a vote for e-verify.
Once again I called him an obammy butt boy who’s been neutered,
As usual I have zero conficence in this republican, “leader”.

[Zhang Fei]

What I’d like to know is why the co-sponsors inserted a clause preventing local governments from enforcing the e-verify law. Lamar Smith has been a persistent shill for Hollywood interests (re SOPA) - the question here is whether he has become the kind of Republican who says one thing and does another (in terms of his voting record). He voted for TARP and was endorsed by the Austin American (typical liberal rag). From the article:

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But HR 2885 contains a “Preemption” clause which says state and local government would no longer be permitted to enforce employer provisions in current immigration law. That is, should the bill become law, everything having to do with E-Verify and the enforcement of related immigration law itself would be turned over to the tender care of Janet Napolitano and the Department of Homeland Security!

It would therefore be left entirely to Napolitano’s discretion to enforce relevant immigration law as States would no longer be permitted ANY legislative or judicial involvement in making certain that employers did not hire illegals, or that illegals did not obtain and use forged or stolen Social Security information.

Of course everyone knows how diligent the Regime has been when it comes to enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws! (3)

And standing in the way of the Obama Administration’s ability to consolidate even greater federal authority over enforcement of immigration law is John Boehner by virtue of the “hold” he has placed on a House vote.

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[null and void]

Funny how nothing he does “pays off” for America’s best interests...

[null and void]

S/B almost nothing.

[EternalVigilance]

I don't support E-Verify. It involves a national database of who is "qualified" to work, and the obtaining of permission from the state to earn your daily bread.

Because our political "leaders" have refused to secure our border and enforce our immigration laws, we are now expected to give the same bunch even more power over the very lifesblood of the American people.

Supporting this is a huge error on the part of conservatives. Huge.

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

-- Benjamin Franklin

[USNBandit]

In essence it isn’t E-verify that did that. It is the requirement to use your social security number.

[oldbill]

Don’t be fooled by this feel-good bill. It was written by the Chamber of Commerce and actually makes things worse.

The CoC knows that the feds will never enforce immigration laws already on the books, so this allows them to keep the cheap labor pool and ends the only effective controls on illegal immigration to date - state and local governments.

This is the second time the CoC tried to pull off this stunt. They did it two years ago after conning Sam Johnson (R-TX) into a similar bill that did nothing but preempt local and state laws.

The bitter truth, which too many freepers don’t want to accept, is that the Republican elites are as much in favor of illegal immigration as the Democrats and Obama.

Is it not ironic that so far the only prominent Republican to take a hard line on clamping down on illegal immigration is Mitt Romney, the freepers’ Public Enemy No. 1.

The Republican Establishment still doesn’t get it on illegal immigration. They also don’t realize that the first people the Tea Party took on was not the Democrats, but establishment Republicans who were RINOs and moderates, like in Delaware, Nevada, and Utah.

The Tea Party did not start with a CNN Santelli rant. He only gave a name to an existing movement that started when Bush, McCain, and Graham tried to jam the 2006-7 Amnesty Bill down our throats. Did Republicans learn from that? No, they still want cheap labor and are clueless as to how the American people really feel.

For Boehner, don’t fall in the trap - Kill Lamar Smith’s pro-alien bill.

[Zhang Fei]

Thanks for the explanation. I got suspicious when I saw that a tabled bill (not an amended one) had a provision preventing local cops from enforcing it. Lamar Smith is either just another open borders hypocrite masquerading as someone tough on illegals or he’s just lazy. Either way, he needs to be booted in the next GOP primary.

[oldbill]

Smith was confronted about this preemption section of the bill, and told that he needs to get rid of it if the bill was going to get enough support and not totally inflame the voters, but he refused. The CoC wouldn’t go along with removing it because to them, that was the meat of the bill, not all the E-Verify crap.

Here is the fatal section that Smith and the CoC won’t remove:

SEC. 6. PREEMPTION.

Section 274A(h)(2) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a(h)(2)) is amended to read as follows:

`(2) PREEMPTION- The provisions of this section preempt any State or local law, ordinance, policy, or rule, including any criminal or civil fine or penalty structure, insofar as they may now or hereafter relate to the hiring, continued employment, or status verification for employment eligibility purposes, of unauthorized aliens.

[Zhang Fei]

Thanks. It’s now clear to me that the egregious SOPA bill he sponsored wasn’t some kind of aberration.

[wintertime]

ping