Posted on 12/06/2005 6:28:53 AM PST by GOPGuide
In a bid to bypass critics, the Senate will pass the plan and then merge it with a House bill, observers say.
Washington - Republican leaders will try to pass President Bush's controversial guest-worker proposal without putting it to a direct vote in the House.
Observers say the new GOP strategy that begins today is for the House to deal only with the more politically palatable issue of increasing border security and clamping down on employers. Republican leaders then will let the Senate pass some form of a guest-worker plan.
After that vote, senators and House members will merge the House's border security bill with the Senate's legislation in closed-door meetings.
The House will then vote on the final package, which will include some guest-worker provision, according to a GOP aide familiar with the plan, a Colorado lawmaker and other observers.
The strategy is designed to avoid a divisive debate and contentious vote in the House.
"There is a widespread expectation that that is how it's going to play out," said Tamar Jacoby, immigration expert with The Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank. "I think it would be hard to pass in the House without the Senate going first."
The legislation that is likely to be the core of the House's immigration bill is expected to be introduced today. Sponsored by Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., it tightens border security and forces employers to verify workers' citizenship. It does not address guest-worker issues.
Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., the biggest opponent of the president's guest-worker
proposal, said the strategy limits his ability to challenge the measure. "They're doing it this way because they know in the House they'll run into a buzz saw and maybe my name's on it," said Tancredo, who heads the 92-member Immigration Reform Caucus in the House.
Sensenbrenner's bill is expected to be voted on within the next two weeks. That allows House members to visit their districts for the Christmas break and say that they passed immigration reform, Tancredo and Jacoby said.
But the House members will be aware of the plan to build in a guest-worker program through the conference committee, said Grover Norquist, a Republican strategist who often serves as an informal liaison between Congress and the White House.
"The president's made it clear he wants both (border security and a guest-worker program)," Norquist said.
Correct.
It's not Bush's pets that will be raped and children eaten.
We are just an annoying inconvenience they seek to rid themselves of.
Underhanded Crooks.
If they try this, I hope every last one of them get voted out of the offices they currently abuse.
Observers say the new GOP strategy BOHICA scheme that begins today is for the House to deal only with the more politically palatable issue of increasing border security and clamping down on employers. Republican leaders then will let the Senate pass some form of a guest-worker plan.
Ping
DONT even think about it, GOP!
If this is how it goes down, The GOP will be merely a memory in a few years. For this abomination, I WILL move over to the Constitution Party.
Here is the Constitution Party's Immigration Platform:
Immigration
We affirm the integrity of the international borders of the United States and the Constitutional authority and duty of the federal government to guard and to protect those borders, including the regulation of the numbers and of the qualifications of immigrants into the country.
Each year approximately one million legal immigrants and almost as many illegal aliens enter the United States. These immigrants - including illegal aliens - have been made eligible for various kinds of public assistance, including housing, education, Social Security, and legal services. This unconstitutional drain on the federal Treasury is having a severe and adverse impact on our economy, increasing the cost of government at federal, state, and local levels, adding to the tax burden, and stressing the fabric of society. The mass importation of people with low standards of living threatens the wage structure of the American worker and the labor balance in our country.
We oppose the abuse of the H-1B and L-1 visa provisions of the immigration act which are displacing American workers with foreign.
We favor a moratorium on immigration to the United States, except in extreme hardship cases or in other individual special circumstances, until the availability of all federal subsidies and assistance be discontinued, and proper security procedures have been instituted to protect against terrorist infiltration.
We also insist that every individual group and/or private agency which requests the admission of an immigrant to the U.S., on whatever basis, be required to commit legally to provide housing and sustenance for such immigrants, bear full responsibility for the economic independence of the immigrants, and post appropriate bonds to seal such covenants.
The Constitution Party demands that the federal government restore immigration policies based on the practice that potential immigrants will be disqualified from admission to the U.S. if, on the grounds of health, criminality, morals, or financial dependence, they would impose an improper burden on the United States, any state, or any citizen of the United States.
We oppose the provision of welfare subsidies and other taxpayer-supported benefits to illegal aliens, and reject the practice of bestowing U.S. citizenship on children born to illegal alien parents while in this country.
We oppose any extension of amnesty to illegal aliens. We call for the use of U.S. troops to protect the states against invasion.
We oppose bilingual ballots. We insist that those who wish to take part in the electoral process and governance of this nation be required to read and comprehend basic English as a precondition of citizenship. We support English as the official language for all governmental business by the United States.
(From: http://www.constitutionparty.com/party_platform.php#Immigration)
In all honesty, I hope the GOP loses the Senate in 2006, if possible. They are far worse in power than when they simply gum up the works as the minority.
As far as GWB is concerned, he is Clinton without the Cigar.
GWB in my opinion, other than parts of the WOT, is no different than Cigar boy. He is a complete phony and RINO of the worst order. How many times do we need the shiv stuck in our backs???
I can't wait for the hypnotized drugged-up lackey bots to explain this latest disaster foisted upon us by King George.
I already have. They are the only conservative party out there. As far as I am concerned the Republican and Democrat partys are simply two factions of the 'professional politician party' whose sole objective is to be reelected.
Unless lawmakers can get the sequence right, any proposal will fail.
Without having first secured the entire 2000 mile US/Mexican border, the announcement of a "guest worker" plan consideration will bring the onslaught of thousands rushing the border.
I have absolutely no confidence in the current crop of legislators nor their ability to reasonably assess methods to correct the situation along the border.
I volunteered to elect these REPUBRATS twice. They both stink to high heaven.
Sometimes, I really long for the days where my stock portfolio was surging while getting a huge laugh at Cigar Boy's expense.
Although Clinton was far more crass than GWB, can anyone really say things are heading in any different direction?
I may not be far behind if they can't get their shit together PDQ!
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