amnesty

In a late-night vote, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) offered an amendment on Friday to a budget bill passed by the Senate that would have prevented any illegal aliens that receive amnesty from accessing taxpayer-funded healthcare, including Medicaid or subsidized plans provided as part of the Affordable Health Care Act. The amendment was voted down 43-to-56, including being voted down by four Members of the Gang of Eight.

Several leaders of Tea Party groups expressed support for Sen. Rand Paul's amnesty proposal despite the fact that it runs contrary to the basic tenets of such groups – reducing the size and cost of government. It is not clear whether the leaders were expressing their own views or the views of their members.

As the Senate Gang of Eight try to complete their "comprehensive immigration reform" bill that will include an amnesty for the nation's 11 million illegal aliens, an expansive guest worker program that would include visas for construction workers is the latest stumbling block. Business groups are concerned that the GOP Members of the Gang have given in too much to union demands.

A group of six GOP Senators that sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Committee Chairman Pat Leahy on Tuesday urging him to hold more committee hearings before marking up the Gang of Eight's legislation when it's introduced. The letter was signed by Ranking Member Chuck Grassley and Senators Jeff Sessions, Mike Lee, John Cornyn, Orrin Hatch, and Ted Cruz.

The Republican National Committee endorsed amnesty on Monday through its report entitled "Growth & Opportunity" that analyzes the 2012 election results. In the report, the Party concluded that it needs to do a better job reaching out to minorities and young people, and comprehensive immigration reform that includes an amnesty for 11 million illegal aliens is one way to do just that.

In February, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO released a joint press release stating that the two sides have agreed to principles for immigration reform. But after recent meetings on Capitol Hill, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says he's unsure the two sides can agree on legislative language.

In a recent op-ed published by The Hill newspaper in Washington, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte wrote that it's important not to shove immigration reform through Congress without a full debate. Rep. Goodlatte urges Congress to seek feedback from the American public, and discusses the vast number of issues that could fall within a comprehensive immigration reform bill.

Our new television ad that challenges Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) for his support of the Gang of Eight's amnesty plan has been featured in today's Wall Street Journal. The story appears on both the front pages of the paper and the website. The article, "The GOP's Immigration Dilemma", reports on the disconnect between Republican Gang of Eight Members, particularly Sen. Graham who will seek re-election next year, and their constituents that oppose amnesty.

At the 94th national convention of the American Legion last August, the organization passed a resolution stating that the Legion "support the strict enforcement of immigration laws already in existence" and "[t]hat government benefits of any kind should not be granted to any alien who has entered the United States without government permission or stayed beyond the termination date of a visa." The American Legion is standing behind that resoultion now by opposing new amnesty proposals.

More than a few columnists and political analysts have picked up on the fact that there's not much difference between the Senate Gang of Eight's immigration principles and the leaked White House immigration plan that Gang Member Marco Rubio so loathes.

In Tuesday's Washington Post, liberal columnist and MSNBC political analyst Eugene Robinson wrote: 

Sen. Jeff Session (R-Ala.) said on Monday that the White House immigration proposal leaked over the weekend is very similar to the outline presented by the Gang of Eight last month. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has tried to distance the Senate plan from the White House's, but Sen. Sessions noted that both plans grant all 11 million illegal aliens with the right to work and live in the United States on day one.

White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough appeared on Sunday talk shows to defend a draft amnesty plan that was leaked just a day before. McDonough said the plan was developed for backup purposes and indicated the White House still wants Congress to lead the legislative drafting effort. In response, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said the leaked plan would be “dead on arrival” if introduced in Congress.

The Capitol Hill newspaper Politico reports the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO are finding it difficult to reach agreement on guest worker provisions for the so-called comprehensive immigration reform bill. A stalemate over the guest worker issue led to the demise of the 2007 amnesty bill.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), and a member of both the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Immigration Subcommittee, came out against Pres. Obama's call for "comprehensive immigration reform" (amnesty) during his State of the Union address on Tuesday night. Pres. Obama called for a path to citizenship for the nation's 11 million illegal aliens and an expansion of legal immigration.