Free Republic

Immigration reform advocates plan an aggressive campaign to bring the issue back — and the White House has signaled it’s on board. Can Obama emerge from the fiscal crisis with enough momentum to win the immigration fight? As the fiscal fight roiling Washington nears its end, the White House is already signaling that it plans to use the political momentum it has gained during the shutdown fight to charge back into the immigration debate. And this time, Democratic pollsters and advocates say, they could actually win. The final chapter of the current crisis hasn’t been written yet, but Democrats in...

Over the past few years, immigration reform has been at the forefront of debates in Congress. In both the Senate and the House of Representatives, members from across the aisle have come together to develop bipartisan bills that would change the lives of over 11 million undocumented immigrants. Some in Congress have worked tirelessly to create a law that would provide a path to citizenship for millions, while others have focused the debate on border security. In an exclusive interview with Latinos Post, National Council of La Raza (NCLR)’s senior immigration legislation analyst Laura Vazquez discussed the future of immigration...

Once the fiscal crisis has been resolved, President Barack Obama is going to push for immigration reform, he told the Los Angeles affiliate of Spanish-language network Univision on Tuesday. Obama, who largely managed to hold on to office on the backs of Hispanic voters, has long looked to easing the plight of the country’s 11 million illegal immigrants, but other issues have kept coming in the way during his second term.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez, an Illinois Democrat, said there’s still hope for immigration reform—even in the “dark” times we’re in now. “There are 45-50 Republicans ready to vote for comprehensive immigration reform. That’s a sea change,” Gutierrez said on Morning Joe. “There are 180 out of the 200 Democrats, maybe more. Let’s have a vote. Let’s join with the senators, let’s get this issue behind us. As Paul Ryan said to me one time

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) vowed to bring forward more piecemeal spending bills Thursday, as he expressed confidence President Obama would eventually be forced to negotiate. In a memo sent to House Republicans, Cantor called the Democratic position "untenable" and "unsustainable," adding that a steady diet of narrow funding bills would force Democrats to deal. "I am confident that if we keep advancing common-sense solutions to the problems created by the shutdown that Senate Democrats and President Obama will eventually agree to meaningful discussions that would allow us to ultimately resolve this impasse," he wrote. "The American people ......

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor spent part of a speech at a Philadelphia charter school honoring Brazilian education theorist Paulo Freire, a radical Marxist who preached that every society suffers from a contradiction between “oppressors” and the “oppressed,” and that violent revolution must resolve conflict. The Daily Caller is not joking. As EAGnews.org reports, the Virginia Republican spoke at Philadelphia’s Freire Charter School on Monday. The speech started well enough. He predicted that school choice “will be a reality for every student in America” 10 years from now. He also promised to “leave no stone unturned” in the GOP’s fight...

Republican lawmakers are growing increasingly frustrated with what they say is a lack of communication from their leaders. Both centrist and conservative members in the House believe that Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his lieutenants could have done more earlier this year to counter the Tea Party's effort to defund ObamaCare. Some Republicans on Capitol Hill say such an effort is politically impossible with a Democratic-controlled Senate and a Democrat in the White House. Regardless, the rift on what to do on ObamaCare has opened up a civil war within the GOP. That deep division is flaring at a time...

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) warned Thursday the House might be forced to cancel its September recess to work on a government funding bill. The House was originally scheduled to have the week of Sept. 23 off, but Cantor said lawmakers might have to return to Washington that week and maybe the following weekend to prevent a government shutdown. "Members are advised that pending ongoing discussions on the continuing resolution, the House may be in session during the week of Sept. 23 and possibly into the weekend," Cantor said on the House floor. "Members should expect an announcement next...

For the past week, debate over Syria has overwhelmed Capitol Hill -- even though Congress has just about two weeks left to pass a budget bill before the federal government partially shuts down. Democratic and Republican leaders are meeting Thursday morning to discuss the looming budget issues, but before the two parties forge a path forward, the GOP may have to sort out its own issues. The Republican-led House had planned to vote this week on a bill to temporarily fund the government (referred to as a continuing resolution, or CR), but the vote was delayed Wednesday because Republicans divisions...

We’re a bit closer to a government shutdown today. And that may not be such a bad thing. Here’s the deal: 1) House Republicans pulled their bill to fund the government. The House was expected to vote Wednesday on a bill to continue funding the federal government. The initial whip count showed the bill 18 votes short of passage, so the vote didn’t happen. Why is the bill 18 votes short of passage? Obamacare, of course. 2) The GOP’s small Obamacare problem. The vote was delayed because the House GOP can’t decide on what to do about Obamacare. Hardcore conservatives...

The House Republican “leadership,” and we use that term in the loosest sense, is preparing to confirm once and for all that it is a principle-free zone by scheduling a phony vote to defund Obamacare. The smoke and mirrors procedure cooked-up by House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions of Texas and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia calls for sending the Senate a stopgap spending bill together with a resolution that would alter the text of the bill once it’s enrolled for presentation to President Barack Obama – the so-called “enrollment correction” would bar funding to carry out Public...

A document House Majority Leader Eric Cantor distributed to all House Republicans on Tuesday, obtained by Breitbart News, confirms that he is planning to make it appear as though the House is voting to defund Obamacare while using a legislative procedural trick which would allow the Democrat-controlled Senate to strip defunding language from the Continuing Resolution. * * *

Republican Congressman Bob Goodlatte, chair of the House Judiciary Committee overseeing immigration, said he expected Congress to pursue reform legislation despite a tight schedule featuring debates over Syria, health care, and the debt limit. Those and other issues “should not deter us from getting to [immigration] as soon as possible,” Goodlatte said in an appearance on WAMU’s Kojo Nnamdi Show on Tuesday. Goodlatte said he expected votes soon, perhaps in October, on a series of smaller House bills on border security, internal enforcement, guest workers, and high-tech visas. “Those bills are ready to go to the floor of the House...

Rep. Eric Cantor released a statement today supporting the use of military force in Syria and believes it is in our best interest to respond to the use of WMD. From majorityleader.gov: “I intend to vote to provide the President of the United States the option to use military force in Syria. While the authorizing language will likely change, the underlying reality will not. America has a compelling national security interest to prevent and respond to the use of weapons of mass destruction, especially by a terrorist state such as Syria, and to prevent further instability in a region of...

-snip- Cantor, R-Va., also released a statement Tuesday morning that said he intends to “vote to provide the President of the United States the option to use military force in Syria.” “While the authorizing language will likely change, the underlying reality will not,” Cantor said, also noting that “there are differing opinions on both sides of the aisle,” and “it is up to President Obama to make the case to Congress and to the American people that this is the right course of action, and I hope he is successful in that endeavor.” While some in Congress have criticized Obama’s...

RACINE — On Thursday it was a panel discussion and before that it was a post-town hall rally. There were press conferences, forums in English and Spanish and demonstrations. On Saturday, the push for immigration reform manifested in a hot parking lot behind Lopez Bakery, 1667 Douglas Ave., where a handful of young activists gathered to spray-paint a poster. “Rep. Paul Ryan,” they wrote, “we want a vote on comprehensive immigration reform.” The city has become a hot spot for pro-immigration reform demonstrations, panels and more because Racine County is represented by Ryan, R-Wis., one of few congressional Republicans to...

WASHINGTON, DC – House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) today issued the following joint statement. “Under the Constitution, the responsibility to declare war lies with Congress. We are glad the president is seeking authorization for any military action in Syria in response to serious, substantive questions being raised. In consultation with the president, we expect the House to consider a measure the week of September 9th. This provides the president time to make his case to Congress and the American people.”

Thomas Haynesworth sorted mail and made copies early Tuesday at his clerical job in Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II’s office. Then Cuccinelli went to work for him. In a vaulted courtroom, Cuccinelli passionately tried to convince a Virginia appeals court that Haynesworth is an innocent man. That the state made a mistake when Haynesworth was convicted of rape three decades ago. That his name should be cleared. Then the two walked back to work. “I’ll see you up there,” Cuccinelli told Haynesworth as he might any other colleague heading back to the grind. The relationship between Virginia’s top law...

Ken Cuccinelli is leading an aggressive, populist, small government campaign. His latest television ad hits squarely on the theme of big companies hiring lobbyists and consultants in a bipartisan fashion and getting both sides to carve out loopholes and benefits for those big companies. The little guy is left paying for those loopholes in his taxes. The consultants in the GOP, who’ve been profiting heavily from this sort of this, sell us “electable” candidates who cannot win against conservative candidates who will hurt their revenue stream. In that vein, we should look with interest that Boyd Marcus in Virginia is...

Republican lawmakers are running away from town halls in August. In a New York Times piece about the frustrations of one citizen activist in Texas, some prominent Republicans who have not held an August town hall are listed. They include: Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL); Rep. Tim Griffin (R-AK); Rep. John Kline (R-MN); Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX); Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), the chair of the House Rules Committee; Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC); and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), who has "not announced any town halls but did participate in them in 2009."