By Printus LeBlanc
This has been a banner week for the Republicans, the Supreme Court favorable for conservatives on several key issues this week, the left showed just how crazy it has become by condoning violence against political opponents, and the economic news is stupendous. Republicans are on a roll, what could possibly stop them? Enter GOP leadership.
Because the mainstream media said family separation was an issue, House GOP leadership is determined to grant amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants in the hopes of fixing the family separation issue at the border. Never mind telling people not to send their children here with smugglers or don’t illegally cross the border at all. GOP leadership sends the message that if you get here, we will give you amnesty.
Over the last two weeks, the House has debated and voted on two different immigration bills, the Goodlatte bill and the leadership “compromise” also known as amnesty. Last week the House voted on the Goodlatte bill with it only garnering 193 votes, a much higher vote count than expected. The compromise bill was scheduled to be voted on after the Goodlatte bill, but it quickly became clear something was wrong when the bill was pulled. Know we know what was wrong.
The vote for leadership’s compromise bill was held on Tuesday, and the results were embarrassing. The bill leadership crafted by hand and whipped was only able to get 121 votes, barely half the number of Republicans in the House, 235. Why bring that bill to the floor?
It is shameful Republican leadership did not whip the original Goodlatte bill but decided to put all of its might behind the compromise. What did abandoning campaign promises get them? The compromise bill embarrassingly failed by only collecting 121 votes, 72 fewer votes than the Goodlatte bill. As Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said on CBS’ Face the Nation, “If our leadership had put the same whip effort behind that immigration legislation, Chairman Goodlatte’s legislation, it would have passed.” Why didn’t leadership whip the Goodlatte bill? Surely out of the 41 Republicans that voted no they could have found a few to push the bill over the finish line.
Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has already introduced legislation to fix the problem, family separation, which the Democrats were complaining about. The bill mandates families that come here illegally be kept together, authorizes new immigration judges, and funds temporary shelters. Every Democrat and media personality should be tripping over themselves to endorse the Cruz fix. After all, the legislation fixes what they were complaining about. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced his caucus is not in favor of the bill.
The actions of the Democrats lately prove they are not interested in solutions. They have voted against two bills in the House and shot down a bill in the Senate. Republicans should not take the bait and do what President Trump tweeted, give up on immigration. This is an election issue President Trump won on, and the latest CBS poll proves it is an election issue the Republicans can win on in November. The poll was heavily biased towards Democrats, and the results still showed 48 percent of Americans wanted families that cross the border illegally sent back to their country of origin.
George Santayana famously said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Apparently, GOP leadership has never heard of this. They are determined to repeat President Reagan’s greatest mistake by granting amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants. That move sent California into a socialism spiral it has not and is likely to never recover from. Why would the GOP ever want to inflict the mortal wound of socialism on Texas and Florida? Republicans should take President Trump’s advise and win more seats in November.
Printus LeBlanc is a contributing editor at Americans for Limited Government.
