Progressive House Democrats have ramped up their calls for amnesty in the budget reconciliation bill, despite two previous attempts being shot down by the Senate Parliamentarian for such a proposal breaking the Byrd Rule.
The newest tactics used by Progressive Dems, open-border and pro-amnesty activists alike is to urge Senate leadership to flat-out ignore the Parliamentarian’s ruling and for Vice President Kamala Harris, as President of the United States Senate, or Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, as president pro tempore, to overrule her decision.
Reps. Lou Correa (D-Calif.), Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), Chuy Garcia (D-Ill.), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortex (D-N.Y.), along with 39 other Congresspeople called on Senate leadership to disregard the Parliamentarians ruling and toss the long-standing tradition of the non-partisan Senate arbiter.
For the past two attempts by Democrats to propose an amnesty in the budget reconciliation process, Elizabeth MacDonough reasoned that the proposals do not comply with the Byrd Rule requiring measures passed via reconciliation to have a primarily budgetary impact, not a policy impact.
RollCall reported:
[blockquote]In a Wednesday letter to Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, the House lawmakers argued that the Senate’s presiding officer has the legal authority to issue a binding decision on a parliamentarian’s advisory opinion. The presiding officer’s decision could then only be overruled with a supermajority, according to the letter.[/blcokquote]
“This is a critical moment for our nation’s history, and we strongly urge the Presiding Officer to use their authority to disregard the Senate Parliamentarian’s ruling,” the letter read.
The current plan being pitched to the Senate Parliamentarian, known as “Plan C,” includes five-year work permits and a deportation amnesty to illegal aliens who have resided in the U.S. for ten years. The Parliamentarian is expected to rule on that attempt soon.
Senate leadership, particularly VP Kamala Harris, has also received tremendous pressure from open-border and pro-amnesty activist groups who shout that anything less than full citizenship is “no deal!” For instance, Domingo Garcia, The League of United Latin American Citizens national president, stated;
Ignoring our outcry for justice is not acceptable. The Administration should be prepared to face the anger and disappointment of millions of Latinos and the consequences in 2022, which is not far away. No more empty promises.
However, other open border advocates appear to be wary of drawing such staunch lines and signaled they might accept the Plan C option of parole or something else. For example, Lorella Praeli, co-president of Community Change Action, stated:
A lot of it depends on the details of what the parole language would look like, but we are committed to delivering for people this year.
The Executive Director of United We Dream, one of the largest pro-amnesty groups in the country, stated they “want as much protection for as many people as possible.”
