Thread: WSJ: Boehner's Amnesty 'Principles' Support 'Major Planks' of Senate Immigration Bill

Breitbart
by Matthew Boyle 16 Jan 2014, 3:54 PM PDT

The forthcoming House GOP leadership immigration “principles” will reflect much of what was in the Senate “Gang of Eight” immigration bill that passed last year, the Wall Street Journal reports.

WSJ: Boehner's Amnesty 'Principles' Support 'Major Planks' of Senate Immigration Bill



House Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan, and Judiciary Committee chairman Bob Goodlatte, among others, are developing the “principles” in a process coordinated by Boehner’s new top immigration adviser, Becky Tallent. Tallent worked for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), a member of the Senate Gang of Eight, for years, having helped write the failed immigration bill McCain pushed with the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) in the final years of the Bush administration.

The “principles,” the Wall Street Journal wrote, will grant legalization – amnesty – to illegal aliens and would give corporate CEOs exactly what they want: more cheap labor in the form of more tech visas, more importing of low-skilled labor, and other measures that would harm the over 100 million American workers out of the workforce right now.

“The principles could be released as early as next week, ahead of the State of the Union speech on Jan. 28, where President Barack Obama is expected to again call on Congress to send him immigration legislation,” the Wall Street Journal’s Laura Meckler wrote. “They will be circulated among House Republicans for possible action this year, though timing for legislation is unclear.”

The document, according to the Wall Street Journal report, is one page long and endorses the major principles of the Gang of Eight bill that passed the Senate last year. Boehner would attempt to get as many pieces of this through however he has to, Meckler wrote.

“It contains few details but voices support for the major planks of the comprehensive bill that cleared the Senate last summer,” Meckler wrote.

That includes increased border security, stepped-up employment verification, a temporary worker program for low-skilled workers, more visas for high-technology workers and a path to citizenship for people brought to the U.S. illegally as children, according to two people who have seen a draft. These measures would be considered as individual pieces of legislation, not as one big bill, though some pieces might be combined – such as enforcement and legalization.

Frank Sharry, who runs the left-wing pro-amnesty group America’s Voice, told Meckler that the far left of the nation’s political spectrum is pleased that the Republican Party is moving closer to supporting Democratic Party principles.

“It is significant that a party that was in favor of self-deportation just in 2012 is moving to embrace legalization for all and citizenship for many,” Sharry said. "If they're serious and if they detail it properly and they're willing to work with Democrats, it's a promising development.”

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Governm...-Eight-amnesty

Wall Street Journal
By Laura Meckler and Kristina Peterson
Updated Jan. 16, 2014 7:46 p.m. ET

GOP Leaders Set to Embrace Legal Status for Immigrants

Principles for Immigration Overhaul Would Stop Short of Path to Citizenship

WASHINGTON—House Republican leaders are preparing for the first time to endorse legal status for many of the 11 million people living in the U.S. illegally, a step that could jump-start the moribund immigration debate.

As early as next week, House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) and other GOP leaders will release a one-page set of principles outlining how they hope to overhaul the immigration system, people familiar with their plans say. It will stop short of offering the sort of path to citizenship endorsed by the Senate,...

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/...24532878523334

Friday, 17 Jan 2014 01:11 PM
By Sandy Fitzgerald
newsmax.com

The House Republican leadership is expected to release a one-page list of principles governing immigration reform efforts next week that for the first time backs legal status for undocumented immigrants.

But the plan falls short of providing for an immediate pathway to citizenship as outlined in the comprehensive Senate bill passed last year.

Still, The Wall Street Journal that the move could help break the logjam over the issue, which has divided Republicans and left Democrats and reform advocates fuming over the GOP leadership's refusal so far to move on a comprehensive measure through the House.

House Speaker John Boehner, with the support of Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, Republican Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, is expected to circulate the plan to GOP members before it is publicly released ahead of President Barack Obama's State of the Union address Jan. 28.

Rep. Lee Terry told the Journal the move could help win hard-to-get GOP support.

"If it doesn't lead to a pathway to citizenship, I think you will get more people to at least embrace that or be OK with that," the Nebraska Republican said. However, he added, "It will still be a very difficult sell."

There was no indication from Republican leaders on when the House might start voting on reform measures and what exactly they might look like, according to the Journal. That led some critics to charge that the new guiding principles are little more than a political move that may or may not work to attract Hispanic voters in the November midterm elections.

According to the National Journal, Boehner has little to lose in trying to convince his fellow Republican to follow his new guiding principles. If conservatives object to any part that resembles amnesty for immigrants, Boehner and other Republican leaders can still say they tried to push though legislation so that the House and Senate could then go to conference to pass something.

"We can win in 2014 without resolving it. We can't win in 2016 without resolving it," Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn of Texas told the Journal.

The new plan, while stopping short of endorsing amnesty, still provides a legal process that will require immigrants to admit guilt, pay a fine and back taxes before being legally allowed to live and work in the United States, congressional aides familiar with the plan told The Wall Street Journal.

Immigrants would not automatically qualify for a "pathway to citizenship," which is called for in the Senate Bill. Instead, would force them to seek legal permanent residence, or green cards, in order to be eligible for citizenship.

Goodlatte, who supports that approach, told Telemundo Sunday that he is open to new legislation, saying he sees "no reason" illegal immigrants can't gain citizenship.

But there are still many Republicans who oppose legalization, and Boehner and his team may have a difficult time getting them to agree with his plan.

"Illegal immigration is a crime and ought to be treated that way," California Rep. Tom McClintock said Thursday.

House Democrats may also end up opposing the Boehner plan. But some still called the move to lay out a guiding set of standards by the leadership a positive development in the immigration debate.

Democratic Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois it "a very important moment" because the debate up until now has been framed as including citizenship for all, or "justice for no one."

He added that he is not yet ready to endorse GOP approach, but admitted that it could end up being better than the current rules that result in thousands of people being deported each week.

The National Foundation for American Policy also said this week that the GOP's potential new rules could result in 4.4 million to 6.5 million of illegal immigrants qualifying for green cards, compared with 8 million under the Senate bill.

Boehner's plan also calls for increased border security, increased employment verification, a temporary permit program for low-skilled workers, allowing more visas for high-tech workers, and a pathway to citizenship for people brought to the country illegally while they were children, sources who have seen a draft of the plan told the Journal.

Some of those proposal have been under consideration by various House committee for some time, but have never moved. Republican advocates for immigration are hopeful that is about to change.

"[There are] at least five and maybe six or seven House Republicans getting ready to introduce legalization bills. House Republicans competing to write bills for what they once called amnesty. I think that's pretty dramatic," said ImmigrationWorks USA President Tamar Jacoby, a GOP reform advocate.


http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/boe...1/17/id/547716

Obama to Dems: Boehner will pass immigration reform in 2014

I am a God and Guns kind of guy. Typically republicans tend to be more protective of both of those. That is not always the case though. Since I am a registered democrat I can't vote in republican primary, but there is not a national democrat I would support today and now republicans are selling us out.

REpublicans will not "out latino" the democrats. Wont happen. Even if they embraced democrat principles democrats would still get over 60% of the latino vote while losing much of the conservative vote which is often white.

I would rather see Pelosi take the gavel back ( as disasterous as that would be) than repubs keep thinking they can take conservatives for granted.

Since I am a registered democrat I can't vote in republican primary, but there is not a national democrat I would support today and now republicans are selling us out.

Republicans feel the same and I think that is why people that identify as Independents are now 41% of the electorate.

I am only quoting their data, not their politics since they claim to be responsible for Bloomberg.
http://independentvoting.org/