Republicans Challenging Obama on Immigration Fail in Third Try

Republicans Challenging Obama on Immigration Fail in Third Try

Feb 5, 2015 9:14 AM PST
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(Bloomberg) -- Senate Republicans failed for the third time to advance a bill reversing President Barack Obama’s immigration orders as they try to wear down Democratic lawmakers who are unified against it.

The 52-47 vote on Thursday, with 60 required to advance the bill, was a repeat of similar votes held Tuesday and Wednesday.

Republicans are trying to demonstrate to conservative lawmakers in the party that they are exhausting efforts to stop Obama’s directives shielding millions of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. from deportation.

They are also trying to pressure Democrats including West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, who has been critical of Obama on immigration, to switch their votes.

“All it requires is a little common sense and a little Democratic courage.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell

“I don’t understand why they’d want to block the Senate from even debating a bill to fund homeland security,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the floor ahead of the vote. “All it requires is a little common sense and a little Democratic courage.”

Republicans are seeking to use a House-passed spending bill for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to force the president to abandon the immigration action he announced in November. The agency would face a shutdown of non-essential operations if Congress doesn’t reach agreement before current funding ends Feb. 27.

Democrats are portraying the measure as an attempt to force unrelated changes to U.S. immigration policy by holding up a bill needed to keep the nation safe from terrorist threats.

‘Terrorist Acts’

“We have these terrorist acts all over the world taking place right now,” said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat.

“And we, the United States of America, are in a position where we’re not going to fund homeland security?”

Republicans control the Senate 54-46, and with 60 votes required to advance legislation, they need support from at least six Democrats. Obama has said he’d veto any measure that rolls back his directives.

Senator Dean Heller of Nevada was the only Republican to join Democrats in voting against advancing the measure in all three votes.

The legislation, H.R. 240, would provide $39.7 billion to keep Homeland Security operating through September.

Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Republican in the chamber, said Wednesday that Republicans will have to revise the bill if Democrats refuse to budge.

Obama announced Nov. 20 that he would temporarily halt deportations for about 5 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. The Homeland Security bill would bar funds to carry out that initiative and would reverse a 2012 directive shielding undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.

Potential Change

One potential change Republicans could make to gain support, Cornyn said, is to drop their attack on the 2012 order. Other Republicans are also suggesting the party could revise the bill to target only on Obama’s November orders.

Maine Senator Susan Collins, a Republican who has worked with Democrats on legislation, said she’s offering an amendment that would do just that. “We have reached an impasse,” Collins said.

Representative John Carter of Texas, the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on homeland security, also said he’d support abandoning all of the immigration-related amendments except the one rolling back Obama’s most recent orders.

Veto Threat

The president reiterated his threat to veto such legislation after meeting with the children of undocumented immigrants. He said he’s confident Democrats would have the votes to sustain a veto.

“I would call on members of Congress to think about all the talent that is already in this country, that is already working in many cases, is already making contributions,” Obama said in the Oval Office.

In similar funding battles over the past five years, Congress hasn’t passed major legislation unless it is on the brink of a deadline. That means there may be several more unsuccessful attempts to pass a bill before a final deal is reached before the end of this month.

“I’m sure we will resolve this sometime in the next few weeks,” McConnell said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Heidi Przybyla in Washington at hprzybyla@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jodi Schneider atjschneider50@bloomberg.net Alan Mirabella

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/ar...l-in-third-try

Thus I still await all that performance promised by republicans last November. If they ever deliver, I will likely have a heart attack. I do not believe that I need a cardiologist on stand=by. That party loves cheap labor. but take credit for freeing slaves? Eat your cake and have it too, nice work if you can get it, and those guys are gooood at snowing Americans to be able to eat and keep that cake!

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Originally Posted by kevinssdad

Thus I still await all that performance promised by republicans last November. If they ever deliver, I will likely have a heart attack. I do not believe that I need a cardiologist on stand=by. That party loves cheap labor. but take credit for freeing slaves? Eat your cake and have it too, nice work if you can get it, and those guys are gooood at snowing Americans to be able to eat and keep that cake!

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You have to remember that during the time when Republicans fought to end slavery, things were similar politically as they are today. We tried to end it with the legislation, but always came up short in the Senate. We fought it in the courts, but lost at the US Supreme Court when it ruled against Dred Scott and in favor of the slave owner. That left only one other option which was an Emancipation Proclamation and Civil War, a war that was fought by 2,050,000 Union Soldiers, 2,000,000 of whom were volunteers, most of them Republicans, who walked away from their lives, homes, businesses, farms and family to fight the bloodiest war ever fought by Americans to free 4,000,000 slaves in the South, people they didn't know and who would never know them, end slavery in the United States and establish equal rights for all regardless of race.

Republicans have fought this battle every day since our party was formed to do so. Republicans fought not only to end slavery and for equal rights, we fought for workers rights, wages, worker safety, protected trade, the environment, national parks, real commerce, women's rights, and fought against the income tax, excess immigration and free trade that threatened all of it. Republicans are responsible for our National Park System, OSHA to protect our workers, EPA to protect our environment, and the National Institute of Health established to find a cure for cancer.

And for the most part, most Republicans still do. Our problem is finding enough new members, candidates and other voters who still do, because ironically, even when we win national elections or control Congress and/or the White House, we are still the minority party in the United States and have always been.

And I'm pretty certain that Dean Heller from Nevada will be a one term Senator.

As long as the Democrats are voting NO on cloture

the Bill can't more to an up or down vote,

so YES they control the bill.

https://hub.numbersusa.com/images/54...logo-black.png ACTION ALERT Senate blocks DHS funding bill for third straight day --- Your U.S. Senator(s) voted to block it!

Dear activist, For the third consecutive day, nearly every Democratic U.S. Senator has voted against motions to bring H.R. 240, the House-passed DHS funding bill, to the floor for debate. These Senators are choosing to protect Pres. Obama's unconstitutional executive amnesties over funding the Department of Homeland Security. Three times now, these Senators have shown they would rather grant amnesty and work permits to millions of illegal aliens than enforce the law and help millions of Americans get back work. Please send a fax to your Democratic U.S. Senator(s) and tell them that their repeated votes against bringing H.R. 240 to the floor are simply beyond reproach and endanger the jobs, wellbeing, and livelihoods of millions of Americans.

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Originally Posted by kevinssdad

Thus I still await all that performance promised by republicans last November. If they ever deliver, I will likely have a heart attack. I do not believe that I need a cardiologist on stand=by. That party loves cheap labor. but take credit for freeing slaves? Eat your cake and have it too, nice work if you can get it, and those guys are gooood at snowing Americans to be able to eat and keep that cake!

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I can understand your frustration, however, at this moment, I think it is being a little misplaced. Currently we're at an impasse because we can't get where we need to go without 60 votes. With the exception of one Republican, the rest all support halting Obama's plan to amnesty over 5 million illegals. Where is your anger at the Democrat side of the aisle?

There are only two options that I see at this point. The Republicans either alter the bill to gain the six votes they need or do nothing in hopes (wishful thinking) Obama will come around. Of course I support the later, however, you know the Republicans are going to catch hell with either option. Heck, the Dems are already attacking the Republicans with the 'terrorist' card. You know, the "DHS has to have it's funding to fight terrorism" chant. The Republicans don't fund DHS, they are the bad guys ......... they alter the bill, once again they are the bad guys. You tell me, how do they get out of this pickle? Is there a 3rd option that I'm missing.

Right now all we can do is keep pounding the Senate Dems in hopes of bringing them around. Obviously they aren't catching enough heat from their constituents on this issue. Self preservation is a very strong motivator. If the American people can convince the Dems that their political future will be determined by their position on this issue, they may have a change of heart.

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Originally Posted by MW

. . . Is there a 3rd option that I'm missing . . .

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I've been hoping someone, anyone, would come up with something good but so far nothing.

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Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

I've been hoping someone, anyone, would come up with something good but so far nothing.

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Addressing a third option on this topic, there is one that we do not discuss, but as Judy suggests, the 1861 solution may have to be relied upon again to lay this to rest permanently. America should not surrender on this without becoming defensive and going on the offfensive.

http://www.alipac.us/f12/federal-jud...orders-317656/

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Originally Posted by MW

I can understand your frustration, however, at this moment, I think it is being a little misplaced. Currently we're at an impasse because we can't get where we need to go without 60 votes. With the exception of one Republican, the rest all support halting Obama's plan to amnesty over 5 million illegals. Where is your anger at the Democrat side of the aisle?

There are only two options that I see at this point. The Republicans either alter the bill to gain the six votes they need or do nothing in hopes (wishful thinking) Obama will come around. Of course I support the later, however, you know the Republicans are going to catch hell with either option. Heck, the Dems are already attacking the Republicans with the 'terrorist' card. You know, the "DHS has to have it's funding to fight terrorism" chant. The Republicans don't fund DHS, they are the bad guys ......... they alter the bill, once again they are the bad guys. You tell me, how do they get out of this pickle? Is there a 3rd option that I'm missing.

Right now all we can do is keep pounding the Senate Dems in hopes of bringing them around. Obviously they aren't catching enough heat from their constituents on this issue. Self preservation is a very strong motivator. If the American people can convince the Dems that their political future will be determined by their position on this issue, they may have a change of heart.

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The third option is to do the right thing and defund DHS and listen to the American People instead of a bunch of cartel-backed con artists unfortunately employed in our government.

We have a state and local law enforcement body of over 1.1 million people, 800,000 of them sworn, trained, equipped police officers. There's nothing that we need DHS to do that our state and local law enforcement agencies aren't either already doing or are certainly capable of doing. So, we just need to quit worrying one bit about what Democrats say, it's hog-wash, and not fret about a DHS shutdown, it's a minor sacrifice for the greater good. If they'd been standing up for Americans all these years, we wouldn't be in this position to begin with, so you know, what goes around comes around. It's a simple law of the universe, called payback. Americans are fed up to the gills with paying civil servants not to do their jobs. How long did DHS employees really think they could keep their jobs doing the opposite of what they were paid to do by US taxpayers? Come on, grow up, is all I can say to them, because your immigration gravy train is over.