Cowardly Senate To Pass Immigration Bill Before They Go Home and Catch Hell From Constituents

Within the next week, the Senate will have passed the immigration bill which will grant amnesty to 11-12 million criminally trespassing aliens without making an effort to protect the borders.  Essentially a replay of the 1986 mistake. The bill should get as many as 70 votes.  

The purpose of rushing it through is to give the Senators cover, it will be too late before they go home and meet with their constituents during the July 4th break. Most polls say the majority of American's approve amnesty ONLY if the borders are first made secure.

 The amendment to the "Gang of Eight” bill proposed  by Senators Hoeven and Corker last week does not increase the security of the border.

The amendment includes the nearly doubling of border agents, and completion of the already approved and funded of 700 miles of fence, and a specific plan for border security. However, this is before illegal aliens are granted temporary legal status and there is no guarantee that it will happen.  The amendment calls for a 90% reduction in people crossing the borders illegally but it's a goal not a trigger. In other words if the 90% reduction doesn't happen it doesn't affect the rest of the bill. In other words, these kind of actions have been passed before--without being implemented, whats to say it will be implemented this time?

Sen. Rand Paul says he’ll vote “no” on the Senate’s bipartisan immigration reform bill, since it doesn’t include his amendment that would grant Congress power to determine whether the U.S. southern border is secure,

The Kentucky Republican had previously been open to supporting the measure, which includes a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants that’s contingent on bolstering border security. Paul introduced an amendment that would have required Congress to vote on whether the border was properly secure, but it failed to gain approval this week.
Without that inclusion, Paul said definitively on CNN’s “State of the Union” he would be a “no” vote.

“Without some congressional authority and without border security first, I can't support the final bill,” Paul told chief political correspondent Candy Crowley.

Utah Sen. Mike Lee, told “Fox News Sunday” that he will vote no---but the bill will pass.

Still, Lee remains steadfast, ahead of a likely vote Monday night or Tuesday, that passing the roughly 1,200-page bill is a mistake. He continues to argue that Congress should take a more step-by-step approach, starting with further securing the U.S.-Mexico border.

“They said it is tough and fair, but it’s neither,” he told Fox.

Liberal Republican Lindsey Graham was also on the program and arguled

“We are very, very close,” Graham said. “The amendment gets us over the top.”
He argued he “sure as hell” wouldn’t support a bill that did include border security and that the Republican Party has to be part of immigration reform to connect with Hispanics, who gave President Obama roughly 70 percent of their vote in 2012.
“The party is in trouble with Hispanics,” Graham said.

Graham's  contention that the GOP will improve its Latino standing is not borne out by history. TIn 1984 Ronald Reagan received 37% of the vote. In 1986 Reagan signed an amnesty bill which like the bill before the Senate did not seal the borders. Two years later in 1988 the GOP share fell from 37-30%.

George W. Bush had great numbers (for the GOP) in his two Presidential elections. During his second term, John McCain lead the failed effort to push through a comprehensive immigration bill.  For his efforts McCain received only 31% of the Latino vote (vs. 40% for Bush). Mitt Romney's 27% is still higher than Dole's 21% and H.W. Bush's reelection 25%.

Lindsey Graham's argument (like much of what comes from the Graham/McCain partnership) is simply progressive nonsense.  The two along with other liberal senators will pass the senate without the promised border protection.

It will now be up to the House. John Boehner has said he will not bring the bill up if a majority of Republicans in the House support the bill, but he didn't say anything of the Conference committee. A bill protecting the border could leave the house into the conference committee, but depending who the Speaker puts on the committee a liberal bill could come out.  Republicans have been burned by Boehner before. 

Its incumbent on all who want  action on protecting out porous border before we grand amnesty to reach out to their Congressional Representatives as they head home during the July 4th holiday. Find them in their offices, question them at the July 4th parade, seek them out and tell them to seal the borders before they grant amnesty to the 11-12 million criminally trespassing  aliens, who broke the law by coming into the country.