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Posts Tagged ‘immigration spending’

Sen. Ted Cruz Speaks in Opposition to Gang-of-Eight Immigration Bill

Tuesday, June 18th, 2013

June 11, 2013:  Clear, positive, and constructive, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks on the Senate floor in opposition to the 1076 pages of Gang-of-Eight immigration bill as it is currently written.

As the Obamacare bill did for Kathleen Sebelius, the Gang-of-Eight bill grants enormous discretionary authority to Janet Napolitano to grant waivers and exceptions without approval or review by Congress.  That makes this bill yet another abdication of Congress’ Constitutional authority via a bill s...

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Rubio fades, Ted Cruz shines

Tuesday, June 18th, 2013

Nine months ago, I would have told you that Rubio was a shoo-in to be one of the front-runners for the GOP nomination in 2016. Brilliant, charming, affable (not to mention young and handsome), deeply committed to conservative principles and living the American Dream. And he is, by and large, all of those things.

That being said, his recent activities in the Gang Of Eight have done him tremendous damage among the base. Go on to Facebook and Twitter and check the pulse of the most active, informed...

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We’re from the government and we’re here to help (great stuff from the People’s Cube)

Saturday, June 15th, 2013

More trenchant work from the People’s Cube. This stuff becomes less satire and more samizdat every day!

The Administrative state is here to help:

 

How is this next one not true, exactly?

 

Same question here:

 

America’s Struggling Workers: The Real Victims of Immigration Reform

Saturday, June 15th, 2013

Gang of Eight Bill Doubles the Number of Temporary Workers

While American workers struggle with record unemployment, the immigration reform bill under consideration in the Senate threatens a surge of new competitors in a stagnant job market.

A new study of the reform bill by the Center for Immigration Studies found that in the first year after enactment, the bill would admit nearly 1.6 million more temporary workers than currently allowed.

“After that initial spike,” the study said, “the b...

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Illegal immigration problem is OUR fault, not the fault of the immigrants

Thursday, June 13th, 2013

GOP stupid to allow de facto open borders, not regularization

Not building a fence and otherwise securing the border for 25 years, while our inaction in enforcing laws on the books against undocumented entry and visa overstays communicated our collective acquiescence to long-term residents that violated those laws, have economic and moral consequences that wails against “amnesty” don’t address.

border fence

This former Democrat was for a border fence before border fences were cool.

Before ...

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Breaking: Senate Rejects Border Security Amendment

Thursday, June 13th, 2013

Gang of Eight Sticks Together in Key Vote

In the first key vote on immigration reform, the Senate rejected an amendment Thursday that would have required border security before legalization for 11 million illegal immigrants.

The amendment, introduced by Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, would have prohibited the granting of legal status to illegal immigrants until the Obama administration certified effective control of the border for six months. The measure failed 57 to 43.

Arizona Sena...

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Speaker Boehner On ABC’s Good Morning America: Economic Growth Is Our Number One Priority

Wednesday, June 12th, 2013

 

On ABC’s Good Morning America, Speaker John Boehner told George Stephanopoulos that economic growth is Republicans’ “number one priority.” He also discussed the illegal leak of classified information on national security programs, the importance of addressing our national debt, his concerns with the Senate immigration bill, and more. The full transcript is here and several key excerpts are below:

Boehner: Economic Growth & Jobs Are “Our Number One Priority”:

“[Jobs] ...

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Senator Sessions Rebukes the Gang of Eight

Tuesday, June 11th, 2013

Immigration Reform: A String of Broken Promises  

Members of the Senate and House are engaged in a frenzy of activity to salvage the floundering effort to pass immigration reform.

In the Senate, the effort is focused on finessing the impossible conflict between legalization and border security. In the House, the focus is on passing immigration reform in a piecemeal manner instead of one comprehensive bill.

While the outcome is far from certain, Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama continues the som...

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Money, Money, Money & Other Matters

Sunday, June 9th, 2013

Money has no morality, but that doesn’t mean it should be dispensed by those who share that failing.  That is particularly the case when it’s the people’s money, our tax dollars, which are being dispensed.

For instance, since going on a murderous rampage at Fort Hood, Muslim jihadist Major Nidal Hasan has collected $278,000 in salary from the Army.  Meanwhile, because his crime was designated “workplace violence,” his surviving victims have been denied various benefits, including Pur...

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Money, Money, Money & Other Matters

Sunday, June 9th, 2013

Money has no morality, but that doesn’t mean it should be dispensed by those who share that failing.  That is particularly the case when it’s the people’s money, our tax dollars, which are being dispensed.

For instance, since going on a murderous rampage at Fort Hood, Muslim jihadist Major Nidal Hasan has collected $278,000 in salary from the Army.  Meanwhile, because his crime was designated “workplace violence,” his surviving victims have been denied various benefits, including Pur...

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Spreading the Blame Around

Saturday, June 8th, 2013

I generally regard the Israelis as sensible and self-sufficient, but now I hear that they put a major construction job up for bids and, lo and behold, a Chinese firm got the contract.  Frankly, I wouldn’t trust the Chinese to build me a bird house, let alone a railroad from Eilat to the Mediterranean.  What?  There are no Israeli construction companies?  What if Iran had submitted a lower bid than the Chinese?  Would Ahmadinejad be the foreman on the job?  At this point, I only hope that...

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Immigration Bill Stumbles in the Senate; Bipartisan Talks Fail in the House

Thursday, June 6th, 2013

Immigration reform is in trouble on both sides of the Capitol in Washington.

In the Senate, where the bill is set for consideration next week, Senators are drafting amendments and counting votes to come up with something that will pass. In the House, bipartisan talks are near collapse.

For now, the focus is on the Senate where the chief obstacles remain border security and employee verification as well as skepticism over the Obama administration’s willingness to enforce the law.

Talks in the H...

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The Keystone Pipeline: Obama’s Biggest Domestic Decision of the Second Term

Sunday, June 2nd, 2013

John Kerry on the Hot Seat

Like Obamacare and immigration reform, major decisions made in the White House are more like politics than well-intentioned public policy. The president’s upcoming decision on the Keystone Pipeline is no different.

President Obama

In spite of his lofty rhetoric, Obamacare has little to do with providing healthcare access to the uninsured. It is really about the Democratic Party’s century-old dream of taking healthcare out of the private sector and placing it in the hands of big g...

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Rubio at the Crossroads

Wednesday, May 29th, 2013

Florida Senator Faces Decision on Immigration

It is decision time for Marco Rubio. Soon he will make the most important choice of his young Senate career – he will support the Gang of Eight’s immigration bill or side with conservatives.

Rubio is in a bind. He is the Republican leader on the Gang of Eight that produced the bill now headed for the Senate floor. At the same time, he is a top GOP contender for the presidential nomination in 2016.

The Republican establishment, dominated by Jeb Bu...

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Collapse of the Obama Agenda

Wednesday, May 29th, 2013

The President’s Top Priorities Fall Flat

While Barack Obama cavorts around the Jersey shore with Chris Christie, back at the White House his administration is engulfed in scandal and the collapse of his second term agenda.

The scandals dominate the headlines. Benghazi, the IRS, and the attorney general’s management of media surveillance will keep the Congress busy throughout the summer and beyond. Investigations abound with serious consequences on the horizon for the president and a host...

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A Few Glad Tidings

Saturday, May 25th, 2013

I don’t mind admitting I’m relieved that the Boston bombers were Muslims.  While I regret the murders and mutilations committed by the Chechen brothers, I admit I was worried that the mayhem had been perpetrated by native-born Americans.  That’s because I am so sick and tired of the politically correct crowd countering legitimate attacks on radical Islam by playing the moral equivalence game every chance they get.

You can bet that if they had been Americans, the liberal pinheads would ha...

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Congressmen Say NO to Gang of Eight Bill

Friday, May 24th, 2013

Senate Immigration Bill Not Welcome in House

The Senate immigration received a less than warm welcome Thursday from GOP leaders in the House while a bipartisan group of House members worked to produce its own bill.

Speaker John Boehner issued a statement on behalf of the GOP leadership that said the House would approach immigration reform in numerous ways that will differ from the bill under consideration in the Senate.

“The House remains committed to fixing our broken immigration system,” B...

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Immigration Bill Moves to the Full Senate

Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013

Gang of Eight Prevails In Senate Judiciary Committee

Moments after the Senate Judiciary Committee passed the immigration reform bill by a vote of 13-5, spectators in the packed committee room erupted in shouts of “Yes, we can! Si, se puede!”

It was just like old times, reminiscent of an Obama campaign rally in 2008. Democrats on the committee were gleeful. They basked in the crowd’s adulation, shaking hands and posing for pictures.

The celebration came after five days of deliberation that...

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Law Enforcement Officers Locked out of Immigration Reform Debate

Monday, May 20th, 2013

They’re not listening to the people closest to the problem

The greatest irony of the immigration reform debate has been the exclusion of the law enforcement officers most responsible for border security and the detention of illegal immigrants.

When the Gang of Eight in the Senate unveiled its reform bill last month in a major Capitol Hill news conference, no law enforcement officials or officers were invited to speak. Instead, the event featured speakers from a wide array of special intere...

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Immigration Reform Talking Points Are Bogus

Saturday, May 18th, 2013

Proponents of the Senate immigration reform bill repeat their talking points so often that by now they are almost as familiar as popular advertising slogans.

But like all slogans, the talking points used to advance immigration reform don’t stand up to scrutiny. Jon Feere of the Center for Immigration Studies throws cold water on all of them.

“On close inspection, however, the hoops illegal immigrants are required to jump through do not amount to much,” Feere writes in a critique of the tal...

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