Thread: Paul Ryan Hints at Immigration Timetable

By Emma Dumain Posted at 4:38 p.m. July 26


Rep. Paul D. Ryan might have just given away the road map for House consideration of immigration reform.

“Tentatively, in October, we’re going to vote on a border security bill, an interior enforcement bill, a bill for legal immigration,” the Wisconsin Republican and Budget Committee chairman told constituents at a district town hall event Friday, according to a report by the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel.

Ryan also reportedly said negotiations were underway for the chamber to vote on legislation that would provide undocumented immigrants with “probationary” visas while they waited a minimum of 15 years to attain citizenship.

The timetable is more than most members will volunteer at this point other than to say there won’t likely be any major action before the August recess, which kicks off in one week.

Lawmakers have also been reticent to discuss what specific bills will be brought to the floor and in what sequence as part of the GOP piecemeal approach to immigration reform.

The 2012 Republican candidate for vice president on Mitt Romney’s ticket and a rising star within the Republican Party, Ryan has only recently begun to lend his voice — and influence — to the chorus of calls to reform the nation’s immigration system.

Asked to confirm whether Ryan’s statements were accurate, a GOP leadership aide said there were “no scheduling announcements to make.”

http://www3.blogs.rollcall.com/goppe...ion-timetable/

This is an important story.

"Probationary status" IS AMNESTY (regardless of any alleged wait for citizenship) -- and if the GOP passes this, they are through as a party. This will alienate the base and guarantee millions of more Democrat voters.

It is clear that RINO sell-out Paul Ryan is peddling amnesty quietly behind the scenes; he has seen what has happened to RINO sell-out Rubio who so publicly peddled the hideously flawed Senate amnesty bill with his pal Chuck Schumer.

by Matthew Boyle 26 Jul 2013, 4:58 PM PDT
breitbart.com



During a town hall meeting in Racine, WI, House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) revealed the House Republican Leadership plans to pass multiple immigration bills and then combine them with the Senate legislation in the conference process to create a comprehensive bill.

Ryan said the goal is to make what he and the House GOP leadership considers improvements to the Senate bill.

“A lot of people are saying, just pass the Senate bill," Ryan explained. "That's not what the House is going to do. I think we can make it better."

According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, “Ryan said in the House, where the Republicans are in the majority, the intent ‘is to bring five or six bills... to fix these problems one step at a time in a comprehensive way.’”

Ryan said negotiations are ongoing in the House for when certain bills will get to the floor. “Tentatively, in October, we're going to vote on a border security bill, an interior enforcement bill, a bill for legal immigration,” he said.

The Journal-Sentinel noted that Ryan also said the House will vote on a bill that would grant illegal aliens amnesty. “We're going to vote on a bill for people who are undocumented,” Ryan said.

Conservatives fear a strategy like Ryan’s will not end in any serious improvement of the Senate bill, a piece of legislation even most in House GOP leadership admit is fundamentally flawed. As Breitbart News has detailed, many conservatives believe such a plan is a backdoor to amnesty provisions similar to those found in the Gang of Eight bill.

In response to Ryan’s announcement this week, one congressional GOP aide said it is the wrong way to go forward because the resulting bill could end up even more convoluted and problematic than what was already passed by the Senate.

“There is no doubt: the plan is to send bills to conference and use the senate bill to make a mega-comprehensive proposal,” the source said in an email Friday afternoon. “It could end up even longer than 1200 pages and have even more big industry giveaways."

"And once that's done there's no turning back," the aide explained. "If the people don't speak up during August it may be too late.”

Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) also commented on the development, saying, "Instead of trying to save the Schumer bill with a ‘comprehensive’ accord, Republicans need to focus on helping out-of-work Americans find good-paying jobs that can support a family."

"The comprehensive effort underway in Congress not only provides amnesty before security measures are achieved but calls for an unprecedented increase in low-skill immigration," he said. "Our immigration system is of course broken, but the efforts we are seeing now would make things much worse–particularly for struggling workers of all backgrounds.”

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Governm...mes-in-October

Paul Ryan lays out immigration proposals in Racine town hall meeting

Valeria Ruiz, an undocumented student who attends Racine Case High School, offers her views to U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan as he addresses immigration concerns at a bilingual listening session at St. Patrick’s Church in Racine.

By Bill Glauber of the Journal Sentinel
July 27, 2013


Racine — Coming face-to-face with activists, immigrants and the children of undocumented immigrants, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan on Friday laid out his proposals to achieve a consensus in Congress and push through long-sought reform of the nation's immigration laws.

"Immigration is a good thing for this country. It is this country," Ryan told more than 300 people who attended the town hall meeting at St. Patrick's Catholic Church.

Ryan, the Janesville Republican who was the 2012 vice presidential candidate, has been a key behind-the-scenes player on the issue in Washington.

The U.S. Senate has already passed an immigration reform bill that included a 13-year path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million people who are in the country illegally.

"A lot of people are saying, just pass the Senate bill," Ryan said. "That's not what the House is going to do.

"I think we can make it better."

"I'm not doing this for politics," Ryan later said. "I think it's the right thing to do for the country."

Ryan said in the House, where the Republicans are in the majority, the intent "is to bring about five or six bills...to fix these problems in our immigration laws one step at a time in a comprehensive way."

Ryan said negotiations are underway to bring "these various bills to the floor of Congress."

"Tentatively, October, we're going to vote on these bills," Ryan said. "We're going to vote on a border security bill, we're going to vote on an interior enforcement bill, like the workplace verification and the visa tracking. We're going to vote on a legal immigration bill for visas, for agricultural workers, for skilled workers."

Ryan also said, "We're going to vote on a bill to legalize people who are undocumented."

Under such a plan, those who are here illegally would have to wait a minimum of 15 years to gain citizenship, two years longer than the Senate version of immigration reform. But they would be eligible to receive a "probationary visa" Ryan said.

"We want to give people an ability to come out of the shadows and get themselves right with the law," he said.

Ryan was asked by an audience member for his reaction to the controversial comments made by Republican congressman Steve King of Iowa. During an interview with the conservative online site Newsmax, King derided the idea of creating a pathway to citizenship for undocumented children, also known as "dreamers."

King said, "For every one who's a valedictorian, there's another 100 out there that, they weigh 130 pounds and they've got calves the size of cantaloupes because they're hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert."

Ryan said, "Representative King's remarks, I disagree with, I disavow, and they're wrong."

Ryan answered around a dozen questions from the predominantly Hispanic audience. A woman provided simultaneous translation in Spanish for a small segment of the crowd.

"It is encouraging that he is really taking leadership on this issue to try to move a bill this year," said Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of the pro-immigration group Voces de la Frontera. "I feel it's important for someone in his position to continue to articulate the economic benefits of immigration reform for everyone and the moral imperative to do this."

One young immigrant, a "dreamer," voiced frustration with Ryan over a 15-year path to citizenship. Another "dreamer," Valeria Ruiz, 17, of Racine, prodded the congressman on deportations that divide families.

Gustavo Vargas, 35, a Mexican-born laborer who lives in Racine, told Ryan of his yearning to become an American citizen and of the decision he made back in 2004 to bury his infant son in the United States.

"Listening to him, looking him in the eye, seeing his sincerity, what I get coming to me is, this is the American Dream, this is the American ideal," Ryan said.

Later, Vargas said he spoke up because he wanted to let the congressman know "how hard it is to be an immigrant and how hard it is to be a father and try to support a family."

Ryan said that he wants to fix the immigration system "once and for all, so that we don't have the same problem 10 years from now."

Ryan told reporters he understood why some people in the crowd were critical of the 15-year time period to citizenship.

"We want to make sure we're fair to the legal immigrant," he said. "We want to make sure the law does not reward people for quote, unquote, cutting in line. We want to make sure that that person who came here legally in the first place who waited patiently, that they're respected by being at the front of the line."

Ryan added, "So, yes, it may be difficult and it might take 15 years for a person to get right. But I think that's a pretty good deal given that we have all these undocumented Americans."

http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepo...217134531.html