Reid admits Senate-passed amnesty bill is unconstitutional
Reid admits Senate-passed amnesty bill is unconstitutional
Jul 10, 2013
Press Release
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Stockman today announced Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is refusing to transmit to the House an amnesty bill which passed the Senate two weeks ago, fearing it will be returned to the Senate on a “blue slip” resolution.
Stockman had promised to seek to automatically kill the Senate amnesty bill through the use of a blue slip resolution.
“Even Harry Reid now admits the Senate’s amnesty bill is unconstitutional and cannot become law. Any bill that raises revenue must start in the House” said Stockman. “By creating their own amnesty taxes Senate Democrats broke the rules. Senate Democrats were so hell-bent on ramming through a gift to radical political activists they didn’t bother to check if it was even legal.”
“They got caught trying to sneak an illegal bill past the Constitution’s borders,” said Stockman.
A blue slip” is a resolution that automatically returns to the Senate any bill that violates the “origination clause” of the United States Constitution. The origination clause states “All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives.” The name comes from the blue paper the resolution is traditionally printed on.
Blue slip resolutions are immediately considered as a matter of constitutional privilege, are debatable for an hour and are not subject to amendment.
Section 2102 of the amnesty bill requires the payment of certain taxes and forgives the payment of other taxes as a condition of receiving amnesty and other benefits.
The Congressional Budget Office analysis of S. 744, dated June 18, 2013, on page 44 states, in part, that “enacting S. 744 would have a wide range of effects on federal revenues, including changes in collections of income and payroll taxes, certain visa fees that are classified as revenues, and various fines and penalties. Taken together, those effects would increase revenues by $459 billion over the 2014-2023 period, according to estimates by JCT and CBO.”
http://stockman.house.gov/media-cent...constitutional
