April 22, 2013 | 8:08 am
Conn Carroll
The Washington Examiner

Had Senate Democrats actually wanted a productive and deliberative debate on the Schumer-Rubio immigration amnesty proposal, they would have cancelled Friday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on it. The entire nation was riveted by the Boston Marathon Bombing manhunt, which was being overseen in part by the hearing’s scheduled star witness: Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

Napolitano wisely cancelled her appearance just minutes before the hearing was about to start. But the Judiciary Committee pressed on anyway. There simply is no slowing this amnesty train.

Today, the Judiciary Committee will hold its second and final hearing on the 844-page Schumer-Rubio bill. Twenty-three witnesses are scheduled testify, the vast majority of them chosen by Democrats to advance the pro-amnesty case, including: Arturo Rodriguez, President of the United Farm Workers; Janet Murguia, President of the National Council of La Raza; Laura Lichter, President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association; Charles Conner, President of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives; Rick Judson, Chairman of the National Association of Home Builders.

And according to Politico, pro-amnesty activists are very happy about what they’ve read so far of the Schumer-Rubio bill:

When Democrats got a look at the 844-page measure, they discovered that their negotiators extracted more concessions than they thought possible. Those include an expansive version of the DREAM Act and subtle but meaningful tradeoffs on all the major pieces of the system, from family reunification to legalization and border security. … Democrats believe their side made off with more policy victories than it could’ve predicted.
…
The Gang of Eight agreed to include the 10-point border security plan that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) proposed several years ago with then-Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), who was one of the most conservative in the chamber, and provide up to $6.5 billion to fund it. … But in return, Democrats got what Mary Giovagnoli, a former Kennedy immigration aide and director of the Immigration Policy Center, called an “extremely generous legalization program.”

And don’t expect Democrats to get too upset about that $6.5 billion in border spending. As The Heritage Foundation notes today, the Schumer-Rubio bill exploits a loophole in the Budget Control Act that allows Congress to spend more than both parties agreed to under the 2011 spending caps. So not only does Schumer-Rubio udermine the rule of law, it busts the budget too!

http://washingtonexaminer.com/mornin...rticle/2527802