I listened to Congressman Pence on Sean Hannity's radio show Yesterday. Rep. Pence understands the political reality in getting legislation passed that will actually accomplish reform...he understands because he knows that the U.S. Senate will refuse to act and will not pass anything that doesn't reform this so-called crisis in one comprehensive bill.
Now, I make it pretty clear to the forum's members that I am not anti-immigrant regardless of their legal status so what I write is probably biased but, Sean Hannity was clueless as to the legislative realities that Rep. Pence kept trying to hammer home to him. Sean Hannity was under the impression that the House's bill would reach the senate and then face an up or down vote with each Senate member having to be on record for their vote. This was nice in theory but the Senate doesn't even have to acknowledge the House bill at all if it never makes it out of the reconciliation committee. If the Senate does not want to take legislative action then it wont. If the Senate takes no action then nothing becomes law. Since the Senate doesn't want to act in a "piece meal" bill it, and not the House, has the leverage make or break a deal, period! Sure, the House has leverage, too, if what comes from the Senate is not acceptable to the Representatives but NOTHING will get done without the consent of the Senate. And the "nothing", or status quo, is exactly what the House can't let happen.
Anyone who really listened to Sean Hannity radio program yesterday must have been frustrated by Hannity's inability to comprehend what the Congressman was trying to convey. Sean Hannity is a very smart man but yesterday, or at least the half hour I was listening to him, he was completely lost in the sauce. The only holes I witnessed were in Hannity's understanding on the matter.
NO bill is better than a BAD bill. And the Senate's Amnesty Bill is a VERY BAD BILL. Call your House member and tell him/her that in no uncertain terms. You get to vote or stay home and not vote for that bird in November, and they need to know that.
I heard Pence on Hannity yesterday too, and I was very disappointed. Disappointed in the bill, yes...but mostly disappointed in Pence. To hear him say that he "had to" come up with a comprehensive bill--all the issues rolled into one leviathon--because the senate "wouldn't even consider" separate bills, well, it was just plain disheartening.
And so what if Sean Hannity (a talk show host) is naive about the realities of politics and how things become law? The real problem was, imho, that Pence thought that the need for middle ground and passage of something, anything was better than nothing.
Yes, Pence knows how it works on the Hill. Then he also knows that once the house committees finish with his "middle ground" bill, it's not going to be middle ground any more. Then the senate gets a hold of it, and it will be a limp-wristed mess that Specter and McCain and even Kennedy (with pretend grumbling) will be happy.
Pence is better than this. Or, at least he once was.