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    Boehner hints at openness to limited immigration law changes

    The New York Times
    Published: 01 January 2014 08:15 PM
    Updated: 01 January 2014 08:15 PM

    WASHINGTON - House Speaker John Boehner has signaled that he may embrace a series of limited changes to the nation’s immigration laws in the coming months, giving advocates for change new hope that 2014 might be the year that a bitterly divided Congress reaches a political compromise to overhaul the sprawling system.

    Boehner, R-Ohio, has in recent weeks hired Rebecca Tallent, a longtime immigration adviser to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who has long backed broad immigration changes.

    Advocates for an overhaul say the hiring, as well as angry comments by Boehner critical of Tea Party opposition to the recent budget deal in Congress, indicate that he is serious about revamping the immigration system despite deep reservations from conservative Republicans.

    Aides to Boehner said this week that he was committed to what he calls “step by step” moves to revise immigration laws, which they have declined to specify.

    But other House Republicans, who see an immigration overhaul as essential to wooing the Hispanic voters crucial to the party’s fortunes in the 2016 presidential election, said they could move on separate bills that would fast-track legalization for agricultural laborers, increase the number of visas for high-tech workers and provide an opportunity for young immigrants who came to the country illegally as children to become U.S. citizens.

    Although the legislation would fall far short of the demands being made by immigration activists, it could provide the beginnings of a deal.

    For Boehner, hiring Tallent suggests a new commitment to confronting an issue that has long divided the Republican Party. Tallent is a veteran of more than a decade of congressional immigration battles and fought, ultimately unsuccessfully, for comprehensive overhauls of the immigration system in 2003 and 2007.

    Although Boehner’s aides say she was brought on to carry out his views and not her own, advocates of immigration change say the only reason for Boehner to have hired Tallent is his desire to make a deal this year.

    In addition, immigration advocates say that Boehner’s end-of-year rant against Tea Party groups - in which he said they had “lost all credibility” - is an indicator of what he will do this year on immigration. The groups are the same ones that hope to rally the Republican base against an immigration compromise, and while Boehner cannot say so publicly, he will have more room to maneuver on the issue if he feels free to disregard the arguments from those organizations.

    Aides continue to say that Boehner remains opposed to a single, comprehensive bill like the Senate-passed measure that would tighten border security, increase legal immigration and offer an eventual path to U.S. citizenship for an estimated 11 million immigrants in the country illegally. Conservatives are staunchly opposed to sweeping legislation that would offer a path to citizenship.

    “The American people are skeptical of big, comprehensive bills, and frankly, they should be,” Boehner told reporters recently. “The only way to make sure immigration reform works this time is to address these complicated issues one step at a time. I think doing so will give the American people confidence that we’re dealing with these issues in a thoughtful way and a deliberative way.”

    Nonetheless, immigration activists say they are hopeful that politics may ultimately lead Boehner to ignore conservative voices who oppose a path to citizenship. Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee for president in 2012, who took a hard line on immigration, won only 27 percent of the Hispanic vote - a key reason for his loss to President Barack Obama.

    Obama has in the meantime said he is open to the piecemeal approach on immigration favored by House Republicans, but only if it does not abandon comprehensive goals in legislation that passed the Senate last summer. Reconciling the House approach with the broader ambitions of the Senate bill is the biggest hurdle, strategists in both camps say.

    “We’ve got to grab the brass ring while it’s there,” said Kevin Appleby, the director of migration policy at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “I’ve been in this debate long enough to know you can’t rely on anything happening at a certain time or on assurances that we’re going to do something this year.”

    Advocates for an immigration overhaul will start 2014 with a race against the election-season clock and a new campaign aimed at forcing action on Capitol Hill.

    Civil disobedience demonstrations are planned in Washington and elsewhere. Business groups are readying lobbying blitzes on Capitol Hill. Labor leaders and evangelical ministers are considering more hunger fasts to dramatize what they say is the urgent need to prevent deportations.

    The most likely legislative approach, according to lawmakers, White House officials and activists, is a push to pass legislation in the House by May or June - after most Republican lawmakers are through with their primary campaigns - with the goal of reaching a compromise that Obama could sign before the 2014 midterm election campaigns intensify next fall.

    “That’s our first window,” said Jim Wallis, the president of Sojourners, a Christian social justice organization in Washington that is working to change the immigration laws. “We are organizing, mobilizing, getting ready here. I do really think that we have a real chance at this in the first half of the year.”

    If a comprehensive overhaul is not completed by summer, strategists say they could make another push during a lame-duck session at the end of the year, after the November elections. If it did not happen then, lawmakers could wait until 2015, although any measure would have to start again in the Senate because the legislation would expire at the end of 2014.

    Some party strategists on Capitol Hill remain skeptical about the willingness of Boehner and the House to embrace changes in the face of conservative critics who say the Senate bill represents amnesty for lawbreakers and does not do enough to seal the border against future illegal immigration.

    “They won’t try to push through something that conservatives can’t live with,” one top Republican aide said.

    House Republicans have a retreat scheduled this month, and are unlikely to make any strategic decisions about immigration before then. Rep. Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., the chief House negotiator on the budget compromise, is expected to play a large, if behind-the-scenes, role.

    Immigration change advocates continue to demand an end to deportations, many of which have wrenched some immigrants from their families. The deportations have energized immigrants, religious leaders and some law enforcement groups behind their current push for legislation.

    “I would bet money that it will be done before the presidential election of 2016, but I think there’s a very good chance it will get done considerably sooner than that - in 2014,” said Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y. and one of the architects of the immigration legislation in the Senate.

    The advocates say they are in no mood to wait for something else to interfere.

    “I’m going to be pushing hard to try to get it done” early in 2014, said Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., who is a proponent of an immigration overhaul. “The earlier the better, I think.”

    http://www.dallasnews.com/news/local...aw-changes.ece
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    Overpasses for Obama's Impeachment shared Fire Boehner's photo.


    "Like" This Page if You Think it's Time to Fire Boehner



    October 5, 2013
    A thanks to one of our fans for posting this on our wall. We couldn't agree more.





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    Last edited by kathyet2; 01-04-2014 at 10:25 AM.

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    NYT: Boehner 'Committed' to Amnesty in New Year

    by Tony Lee 2 Jan 2014, 7:15 AM PDT
    breitbart.com



    House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) is committed to passing immigration reform, and amnesty advocates are more hopeful that Boehner will ignore conservatives who are opposed to a pathway to citizenship provision that the Congressional Budget Office determined would lower the wages of American workers.

    On the second day of 2014, the New York Times reports that Boehner's aides "said this week that he was committed" to legislation on immigration reform in 2014 and helping President Barack Obama achieve what had been his "biggest" goal of 2013. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) is expected to play a big role behind the scenes in passing amnesty, according to the outlet.

    The Times reports that amnesty supporters have been given "new hope" because the hiring of Rebecca Tallent, a former adviser who tried to help Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) pass comprehensive immigration reform, and "angry comments by Mr. Boehner critical of Tea Party opposition to the recent budget deal in Congress," indicate that "he is serious about revamping the immigration system despite deep reservations from conservative Republicans." They believe that the "only reason" Boehner hired Tallent "is his desire to make a deal this year."

    House Republicans indicated to the Times that they would be open to piecemeal legislation, while amnesty supporters said they were hopeful that Boehner would "ignore conservative voices who oppose a path to citizenship." President Barack Obama and Democrats have said they would be okay with piecemeal legislation only if all of the pieces passed. Boehner and House Republican leaders have said they would not conference with the Senate on the exact Senate bill, but they have left open the possibility of conferencing on various aspects of the legislation. Should that happen, a pathway to citizenship provision would be inserted; Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has said that needs to be a "fundamental principle" in any agreement, and Obama has said he would not sign a bill without that provision.

    As for a timetable, the Times reports that amnesty advocates believe the best chance to pass comprehensive immigration reform will be right after the Republican primary season around June, which is consistent with what McCain has said, as Breitbart News reported. If amnesty advocates cannot have a bill by the midterm elections, they could make another push during a lame-duck session of Congress, the Times notes.

    House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has said comprehensive immigration reform will pass before June if it passes at all. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), who has called Ryan an "ally" in his quest for amnesty, has said that this year would be comprehensive immigration reform's last chance, which may explain why, according to the Times, amnesty advocates are planning more acts of civil disobedience and hunger strikes to pressure Congress into ramming the legislation through this year.

    http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Governm...ty-in-New-Year
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    Added breitbart article above to the Homepage:
    http://www.alipac.us/content.php?r=2...ty-in-New-Year
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    “I’m going to be pushing hard to try to get it done” early in 2014, said Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., who is a proponent of an immigration overhaul. “The earlier the better, I think.”

    Then we will be pushing harder! Don't think for a minute that the American people will sit back and allow another amnesty!

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