Posted on 07/05/2006 6:01:42 AM PDT by theworkersarefew
President Bush and Senate Republicans have given conservatives little to cheer about lately, but over in the House of Representatives, a band of conservative Republicans have held firm in conservative principles.
Thanks to the hard work and determination of Rep. Mike Pence (Ind.), chairman of the Republican Study Committee, conservatives still have hope for the future of the GOP.
Pence, the 2005 HUMAN EVENTS Man of the Year and the first member of Congress to start a blog, spoke to a group of 16 conservative bloggers during our weekly bloggers’ briefing today in Washington. Despite the troubles facing his party, Pence offered a positive, can-do message.
If Republicans are to have a chance this November, Pence said the GOP needed to get back to the basics on three issues:
Limited government Fiscal discipline Rule of law “If we fail to do these things,” Pence told us, “I think this fall could bode very ominous for the life of the conservative movement.”
When asked if a GOP loss of Congress might awaken the party, Pence said such an outcome would be disastrous. He cited the Democrats’ willingness to increase the size of government and abandon the U.S. effort in Iraq as reasons frustrated Republicans ought to think twice before pulling the lever for a Democrat this fall.
Pence said he foresaw conservatives’ displeasure early in President Bush’s first term when a group of 25 House Republicans stood firm in opposition to the No Child Left Behind Act. He said it happened again with the Medicare prescription drug bill—the largest entitlement since LBJ.
Other topics on Pence’s mind:
He opposes the 527 “reforms” supported by House leadership. Pence told us Republicans are headed down a path that will eventually restrict nearly all freedom afforded to Americans when it comes to elections.
He said Republicans need to stand up for a free-market economy. The GOP’s willingness to go along with price-gauging legislation was a mistake, Pence said.
It’s inexcusable that Republicans aren’t able to get a bill passed to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration.
When asked about immigration, he said, “It’s a safe bet the Senate will produce a bad bill on any topic.” He said House Republicans are resigned to the fact that the Senate will pass a bill that includes some form of amnesty. Coming soon: Pence plans a major speech at the Heritage Foundation next week to make the case for a guest-worker plan. Yes, you read that correctly. Pence will throw his weight behind the Krieble Foundation’s guest-worker plan, which would require illegal immigrants to leave the United States and then apply for re-entry. More on that later.
UPDATE -- 10:45 p.m.: A couple other bloggers at today’s meeting have reports on Pence’s talk.
Larry Scholer of the Heritage Foundation’s Policy Blog:
Pence focused his remarks on campaign finance reform, immigration reform, and energy. He has long been an opponent of campaign finance reform, from McCain-Feingold to the 527 reform recently passed by the House. For Pence, more freedom is the answer to 527 reform. Moreover, he worries that restricting political speech leads down the slippery slope to even more government intrusion in the daily lives of Americans. "We are on the road to serfdom in the American political debate," he said.
Tim Chapman of Townhall’s Capitol Report:
Pence drove home the need for "environmentally responsible oil exploration" and his idea is one worth considering. As gas prices continue to rise, those who oppose ANWR drilling will be forced to reconcile their cries for lower gas prices with their insistance that America not explore oil resources within our own borders.
I don't think he is moronic, but he favors open borders under the mantra of "border security." That's my understanding of his border proposal.
Congressman Pence is letting down all Conservtives with his pandering for a Shamnesty Plan.
Why, Pence would target them for deportation and their employers for sanctions. Which measures, according to Spence, don't work and never will.
Next bright idea?
You want a "guest worker program"--fine---but NO ALIEN CURRENTLY ILLEGALLY RESIDING IN THE UNITED STATES SHALL EVER BE ELIGIBLE for such a program. Choose only from those who are in their native country and want to enter the US LEGALLY for the first time. No "Ellis Island centers" where current illegals can take a "day-trip" and sign up for legal status.
Another absolute requirement. Any instituted "guest worker program" participant shall NEVER be eligible for citizenship unless they RETURN HOME AND GET IN LINE for the regular citizenship program.
"but NO ALIEN CURRENTLY ILLEGALLY RESIDING IN THE UNITED STATES SHALL EVER BE ELIGIBLE for such a program. "
Pence agree with you BUT that is not politically viable so he compromised in order to SeaL the border now.Which is what we really are after right?
Wow the tancredo backstabbing of Mike Pence started in a millisecond by the bitter tancredoites.
It's another amnesty pure and simple.
"The latest “middle ground” proposal comes from Rep. Mike Pence (R., Ind.). Pence, who has solid conservative credentials as head of the House Republican Study Committee, offered what he billed as “The Real Rational Middle Ground on Immigration Reform” at a Heritage Foundation speech last month. Since there’s no actual bill to look at, we have to judge from Rep. Pence’s speech and other materials what the program would be like.
It starts out well enough. In seeking an alternative to amnesty, on the one hand, and mass deportations, on the other, he laid out a four-step plan. The first step is securing the border, and he included the entire enforcement bill passed by the House in December (with two minor modifications) in his measure.
Step two is to reject amnesty. That also sounds good, until you remember that Senators Kennedy and McCain also deny their amnesty plan is an amnesty. As do Senators Hagel and Martinez. And President Bush. They all deny that they support amnesty because, as the president says, the only thing that constitutes amnesty is “automatic citizenship,” whatever that is.
Pence has a broader definition of amnesty:
Amnesty is allowing people whose first act in America was an illegal act to get right with the law without leaving the country. Allowing twelve million illegal aliens to stay in our country instead of leaving and coming back legally is amnesty, no matter if fines or back taxes are paid, or how it is otherwise dressed-up or spun by its proponents. The only way to deal with these twelve million people is to insist that they leave the country and come back legally if they have a job awaiting them.
This is exactly the same as the “touchback” gimmick in the Senate amnesty bill, which would require illegal aliens who have been here between two and five years to cross the border to be enrolled in the permanent “temporary” worker program and then immediately return to their homes and jobs.
That brings us to the third step: the guestworker amnesty. Yes, amnesty. Or, if you prefer, legalization. Or normalization. Or regularization. Or earned adjustment. Or whatever is the euphemism du jour. The fact remains that the guestworker program in the Pence plan is explicitly designed to allow all illegal aliens to keep their jobs and domiciles in the United States without interruption.
The congressman is quite explicit on this point. In explaining the need for speedy processing of the guestworkers, he says:
No employer in America wants to lose employees for an extended amount of time. No worker who is earning money to feed and clothe a family can afford to be off the job for long. … And, an illegal alien currently employed in America will be willing to take a quick trip across the border to come back outside of the shadows and in a job where he does not fear a raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In fact, I envision employers working with placement agencies to make sure that their long-time illegal employees get their paperwork processed, background checks performed, and visas issued so that they will be back on the job quickly.
In the 1950s, this process was called — in official U.S. government publications — “drying out the wetbacks.” Whether it’s called an amnesty instead, or is given some other label, the point is to let all illegal aliens stay legally.
But maybe the amnesty is time-limited? And in fact, part of Pence’s “no amnesty” claim is that the guestworker visa would be limited to a total of six years. This would be an encouraging requirement, except that, in the congressman’s words, “At that point, the guest should decide whether to return home or enter the separate process of seeking citizenship.” If legal immigration quotas are to remain in force, then these formerly illegal, now “temporary,” workers will have to leave, en masse, six years from now, which is precisely the mass deportation the congressman said (correctly) is unworkable. On the other hand, if these workers will be able to receive permanent residency outside the current limits, as they would be under the Senate amnesty bill, then this plan is the very “path to citizenship” that Rep. Pence made a big show of condemning. It’s unclear which of these is true, but it’s undeniable that the plan is either dishonest or amateurish.
Step four really takes the cake: a promise — really, truly, cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die — to enforce the ban on hiring illegals in the future. Pence himself says that since every illegal alien will be legalized, employers wouldn’t need to hire illegals, but that enforcement will be phased in nonetheless. This is exactly the bait-and-switch Congress perpetrated in 1986 — legalization first, enforcement later (i.e., never). It is for this reason that the House, animated by a “fool me twice, shame on me” skepticism, has insisted on “Enforcement First.”
There are plenty of other reasons to dismiss the Pence plan as unserious: by not calling for an end to automatic citizenship at birth, it makes the “temporary” claim meaningless; his gimmick of having the private sector screen the workers misses the point that they will still need to use (and receive security clearances for access to) the very same databases that the FBI and Department of Homeland Security use now; and to get “temporary” workers, employers will merely have to attest that they tried to hire Americans, rather than using objective measures to determine need, like rising wages or low unemployment in the specific occupation in question.
In fact, I didn’t write about this plan when it was announced because I didn’t think it possible that anyone could take it seriously. I was wrong. Though the Pence amnesty plan hasn’t been widely covered, it has received support, or at a least respectful hearing, from insiders who will affect the final outcome of any bill. It’s no surprise, for instance, that amnesty supporters like Dick Armey, John Fund, and Michael Barone have had nice things to say about it (not to mention several newspaper editorial pages), but even supporters of Enforcement First, like Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner and Newt Gingrich, have been more receptive of the plan than a close reading of it would warrant. It’s also ironic that Pence’s speech was delivered at the Heritage Foundation, given that his plan appears to violate Heritage’s “permanent principles” on immigration; it will be interesting to see what Heritage has to say about the plan.
In the end, the Pence Amnesty wouldn’t go down with the public any better than the string of other amnesty plans that have been proposed over the past couple of years. As Peggy Noonan wrote last week about the public’s suspicions regarding immigration plans: “they think — they assume, at this point, reflexively — that slithery, slippery professional politicians are using and inventing complications to obfuscate and confuse. ... Americans don't trust ‘comprehensive plans,’ because they don't trust the comprehensive planners.”
There’s only one way Congress and the president can earn back the public’s trust on immigration: Enforce the law — comprehensively, confidently, unapologetically. Then, after several years have passed and enforcement mechanisms are in place and working, and the illegal population has shrunk through attrition, Washington will have proven that, this time, it’s not lying about immigration.
Until then, no deal."
— Mark Krikorian is executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies and an NRO contributor.
Too bad Mike Pence is on the wrong side of the immigration issue.
He sure looks good on just about everything else. And, he'd be a much stronger presidential candidate than the tired old roster being advanced by the media. McCain, Gingrich, Romney, or Guiliani in 2008 would be an even bigger disaster than the Dole/Kemp fiasco in 1996.
Without a fresh face on the Republican side, we're lookin' at electing a Democrat president in 2008.
Ah, back with your special brand of bile, but no real arguments to make.
George Allen '08
I am not a "tancredoite". I just noticed that in attempting to give to "reporters" more rights under the first amendment than would be given to ordinary citizens, that Mike Pence has shown a profound ignorance of the First Amendment. That he would tie his name to a law which protects reporters from having to reveal the sources for information about crimes that have been committed by those sources is idiotic and evidence that he does not have what it takes to lead this great nation.
I am not familiar with his immigration stand. But if it is as dumb as his stand on the first amendment, then I'm sure that he is again proving his unfitness for the job.
Mike Pence has shown a profound ignorance of the First Amendment. That he would tie his name to a law which protects reporters from having to reveal the sources for information about crimes that have been committed by those sources is idiotic and evidence that he does not have what it takes to lead this great nation.
You haven't read the bil have you?
We are just trying to understand why someone who has been a Conservative hawk on illegal immigration would suddenly align with the Administration and Senate over his own colleagues in the House. Stupid Mike...very stupid.
I read an article on it by him. The bill gives to professional reporters more rights to withold information from criminal investigators than it gives to you or me.
The freedom of the press grants anyone the right to own or operate a press and to publish whatever they wish. It does not give witnesses to crimes the right to withold information crucial to the investigation on the grounds that because they are a "reporter" they have some priviledge not available to people who do not call themselves reporters.
Screw that sort of compromise. Deport the damned illegals and be done with it.
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