Can the Koch Network and Jared Kushner Come Up with a Big Immigration Reform Deal?
Can the Koch Network and Jared Kushner Come Up with a Big Immigration Reform Deal?
By JIM GERAGHTY
January 26, 2019 12:38 PM
Indian Wells, California — This morning, the Koch Seminar Network – more often referred to as “the Koch network” or “the shadowy Koch brothers” by gravely-voiced attack ad announcers – kick off their three-day winter meeting with the government at least temporarily reopened but the landscape in Washington deeply unsettled.
Thursday, Daniel Garza, the president of one of the Koch network’s affiliate groups called the Libre Initiative, met at the White House with officials in the administration to discuss a larger deal on immigration reform. Libre Institute president Daniel Garza told HillTv hosts the meeting, which included leaders of other Latino groups, was “very constructive, productive. We felt Jared [Kushner] was an honest broker.”
Kushner has proven the network’s most valuable negotiating partner in the White House, playing a key role in the criminal justice reform legislation passed late last year. Ideas in that legislation, particularly anti-recidivism programs in federal prisoners, were the centerpiece of last year’s winter meeting.
But two of the open questions as the Koch donors gather at the luxury resort outside Palm Springs are just how much can get done in Washington with divided government and the jockeying for position in 2020 starting already, and just what kind of a deal President Trump is willing to accept.
Last year Brian Hooks, president of the Charles Koch Foundation and Charles Koch Institute, applauded the administration’s proposal of “legal certainty” for Dreamers, and indicated the network hoped the administration could go a step further for the Dreamers: “A path to citizenship is enormous incentive to continue to contribute to this country.” This year, the network is expected to push for a permanent solution to the Dreamers’s current legal status.
Politics makes strange bedfellows; this will put the Koch network on the same side as many Democratic lawmakers who have decried their allegedly sinister influence for many years. Earlier this month, Congressional Democrats rejected the administration’s offer of three years of legislative relief for about 700,000 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program recipients in exchange for $5.7 billion in steel barriers.
Democrats appear unwilling to accept a temporary reprieve for the Dreamers in exchange for a permanent structure on the border.
Immigration is certain to come up at some point during the winter meeting, but the main focus in the coming days will be the theme “unleash the potential in everyone,” with an emphasis on programs, organizations and legislative proposals that address problems such as chronic unemployment, drugs and addiction, and poverty.
The Koch network boasts, with some strong evidence, that it has become one of the most consequential forces in American politics, with what it calls a “permanent grassroots infrastructure in 36 states.” Besides the Libre Initiative, the network includes the most visible arm, Americans for Prosperity; Generation Opportunity, which focuses on Millennials; Concerned Veterans for America, which addresses veterans’ issues; and Stand Together, which endeavors to build social capital.
But 2018 was a rough year for some of the network’s favorite political allies. Governor Scott Walker lost in Wisconsin, and Nevada attorney general Adam Laxalt failed in his bid for governor.
Five of Americans for Prosperity’s eight “policy champions” in the U.S. House of Representatives lost in 2018. But the Koch Industries Political Action Committee donated to most of the winning 2018 GOP candidates — Governors Ron DeSantis of Florida, Doug Ducey of Arizona, Kim Reynolds of Iowa, Mike DeWine of Ohio and Greg Abbott of Texas, as well as senators Rick Scott of Florida, Mike Braun of Indiana, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Kevin Cramer of North Dakota (despite the network saying they would not support his heavily-favored Senate bid because he was backing the administration’s tariffs) and Ted Cruz of Texas.
Another lawmaker who has addressed the winter meeting in past years, Kentucky governor Matt Bevin, is up for reelection this year and he appears to be in for a tough fight.
https://www.nationalreview.com/corne...n-reform-deal/
Globalist Kochs Keep Access to White House Despite Opposition to Trump
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Jan. 28, 2019
John Binder
Despite their opposition to President Trump’s economic nationalist, “America First” agenda, the pro-mass immigration Koch brothers’ network of billionaire, donor class organizations has had continued access to the White House.
The billionaires Charles and David Koch and their donor-funded organizations such as Americans for Prosperity, the Libre Initiative, and Freedom Partners have opposed Trump’s patriotic immigration agenda for years.
The Kochs and their network have opposed any reductions to legal immigration to raise American workers’ wages; reforms to save U.S. taxpayers billions by ending welfare-dependent legal immigration; and an end to the country’s birthright citizenship policy that rewards illegal aliens’ U.S.-born children with American citizenship.
Instead, the Koch network supports mass illegal and legal immigration, as well as amnesty for the 12 to 22 million illegal aliens already living in the country.
Likewise, the Koch network and their donors announced that they would not financially back Trump in his 2020 re-election bid.
Nonetheless, the Koch network has kept their access to the White House, most recently having their spokesperson, Mark Holden, included in negotiations on immigration policy and border wall funds.
That access to the White House in regards to national immigration policy is expected to continue, the Washington Post reports.
“Koch officials were back at the White House last week for a meeting on a potential immigration deal that could protect ‘dreamers’ in exchange for wall money, and they’re scheduled to return later this week,” the Post notes.
Over the weekend, the Koch network hosted more than 630 millionaire and billionaire donors who give hundreds of thousands to the network of organizations every year.
Due to the Kochs’ opposition to Trump’s populist-nationalist agenda, a data company with close ties to the Republican National Committee (RNC) will not renew a contract they previously had with the Koch groups.
“I don’t see a path where we have an agreement with them in the 2020 election cycle,” an official with the data company said of severing ties with the Kochs.
Since Trump reopened the federal government without securing border wall funds, a Senate conference committee has been formed to negotiate a deal. Insiders tell Breitbart News the Koch network will have some form of involvement in those negotiations, as well as officials from the White House like adviser Jared Kushner.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2...tion-to-trump/
