NumbersUSA: Grassroots won again- this time in House Rules Committee MILITARY AMNESTY

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Wed
May
21

Today: Grassroots won again -- this time in House Rules Committee

https://www.numbersusa.com/content/f...picture-21.jpg THANKS TO ALL WHO MADE PHONE CALLS, SENT FAXES, DONATED TO GRASSROOTS MOBILIZATION AND VISITED REPS' OFFICES TO STOP THE MILITARY AMNESTY

The House Rules Committee last night bowed to the wishes of its Members' constituents and voted to keep military amnesty amendments off the giant Defense bill coming soon to the floor for a vote.
We have been intensely mobilizing many of you in the grassroots for weeks to persuade the committee to do just tha t.
The committee was under huge pressure from all kinds of amnesty advocates both left and right to include what would be a relatively small amnesty so it could be used by the Senate to advance the giant amnesty it passed last year.
The grassroots won this won. Take a bow.
But we have at least two more places we are likely to have to kill the military amnesty efforts after June 10.
I know that being on our mailing list means you get lots and lots of requests for actions -- especially when your Members of Congress are on a committee considering immigration matters.
But I hope on a day like this -- whether or not you were directly involved with the effort with the Rules Committee -- that you can derive satisfaction from the fact that you and your fellow Americans in this network have made such a difference on amendments that many in the media said were so popular that they were almost sure to go through.
THIS I S THE 3RD TIME YOU HAVE STOPPED THE AMNESTY THIS SPRING
1. The fight started over a month ago when we first caught wind of a secret plan in the House that was being assisted by Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.)
The main threat came from Rep. Jeff Denham's (R-Calif.) ENLIST ACT that he was trying to have included in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2015. He said Rep. Cantor had encouraged him to push the amendment which would grant amnesty to illegal aliens who came to the country under a certain age and then sign up to serve in the military.
But under immense pressure from grassroots activists, several Members of the House Armed Services Committee opposed the amendment despite it starting with a lot of bi-partisan support. They and the grassroots persuaded the committee's chairman, Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), to finally announce he wouldn't allow the Denham amnesty amendment to be part of the original bill.
2. Rep. Denham then pushed to have his amnesty offered as an amendment during the Armed Services Committe e's markup of the bill. We did another grassroots mobilization on the committee.
Again Chairman McKeon was responsive to the grassroots and made sure the amendment wasn't offered.
3. After the Armed Services Committee passed the Defense bill without the amnesty provision, Rep. Denham pushed to offer his bill as an amendment on the House floor when the Defense bill came up for a vote by all Representatives.
That is when our grassroots mobilization began on the Rules Committee and House Leadership which usually gets what it wants out of the committee.
Last night, when the committee met, Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) ruled Denham's amnesty amendment out of order.
The committee also ruled against an amendment from Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) that would have allowed recipients of Pres. Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals to enlist in the military.
And it ruled out of order an amendment from Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) t hat would have allowed illegal aliens to enroll in the military academies.
SPIRITED PRIMARY CHALLENGE AGAINST REP. CANTOR PLAYING A ROLE
Although Majority Leader Cantor had been behind the amnesty push, according to Denham, Cantor highly publicized to his home district at the end that he was opposing adding the amnesty to the Defense bill.
Most commentators attributed Cantor's change of position to the fact that his immigration positions are under a ttack from Prof. Dave Brat in the Republican Primary to be held on June 10. In public gatherings in his district during the campaign, Cantor has faced stiff and visible opposition, according to media reports.
You can view the comparison between Cantor's and Brat's immigration positions here:
https://www.numbersusa.com/content/elections/races/congressional/house-election/2014-virginia-7th-congressional-district.html
To look at the websites and find how to support either race, click on their photo on that Candidate Comparison page.
BOEHNER & CANTOR APPEAR STILL TO BE COMMITTED TO SOME KIND OF FLOOR VOTE AFTER VIRGINIA PRIMARY
Many of the news commentators in Washington are saying that Cantor and Boehner have opposed ONLY adding the military amnesty to the Defense bill and are still hoping to have it come to the floor after key primaries are over as a stand-alone bill. In fact, Boehner just this we ek promised another chance for the amnesty later.
As that threat becomes more clear, we will once again come to you for specific action.
Thanks again for all the difference you have made thus far. I know that many of you are weary from having to fight both the Republican and Democratic leadership over and over again on the same bills and issues. Your weariness is what they are counting on. They have the money, the staffs and the power to just keep coming back until the grassroots stop fighting back.
Our job is to never stop fighting back.

ROY BECK, NUMBERSUSA PRESIDENT
Wed, May 21^st

Opinions please... Do you want non-citizens in defense of the U.S.?

"The Pentagon is reviewing a program that allows qualified noncitizens to enlist in the military, and officials say they’ll consider expanding it to cover some who now live in the United States illegally."

https://fbexternal-a.akamaihd.net/sa...&cfs=1&upscale

Pentagon eyes specialized program to enlist undocumented immigrants

The Pentagon is reviewing a program that allows qualified noncitizens to enlist in...

Stars and Stripes

Pentagon eyes specialized program to enlist undocumented immigrants

http://www.stripes.com/polopoly_fs/1...icle/image.png
Eight members of the United States military became naturalized citizens aboard the USS Pinckney as part of San Francisco's annual Fleet Week celebration in October 2010. Rachel Polish/Courtesy of the U.S. Coast Guard

By Chris Carroll Stars and Stripes
Published: May 20, 2014

Related

http://www.stripes.com/polopoly_fs/1..._100/image.jpg Supporters urge a vote as military amnesty bill hits roadblock in House

House lawmakers and undocumented immigrants rallied Tuesday in front of the Capitol, urging Majority Leader Eric Cantor to drop opposition to a 2015 defense bill amendment granting citizenship to those who live in the country illegally if they serve in the military.
http://www.stripes.com/polopoly_fs/1..._100/image.jpg GOP leaders to block military immigration measure

House Republican leaders intervened Friday to prevent a vote on immigration legislation, dealing a severe blow to election-year efforts to overhaul the dysfunctional system.

AUDIO: At a special Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee field hearing in Chicago on May 19, 2014, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., urged lawmakers to authorize young immigrants who qualify for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) to enlist in the military.

Your browser does not support the audio element.
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is reviewing a program that allows qualified noncitizens to enlist in the military, and officials say they’ll consider expanding it to cover some who now live in the United States illegally.
With legislative efforts stalled that would allow undocumented foreign nationals seeking citizenship to enlist in the military, the Pentagon and the White House are looking at alternatives, the Defense Department’s head of personnel said Monday at a Congressional hearing in Chicago.
“We look forward to the time when we’ll be able to grant more individuals the opportunity to serve this great nation,” said Jessica Wright, acting undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness.
The Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest program, or MAVNI, has been used by the services to enlist nearly 3,000 foreign nationals with vital language and medical skills since 2009. The program currently excludes undocumented immigrants, but federal law gives the Secretary of Defense wide leeway in accepting military members deemed “vital to the national interest.”
Wright said DOD believes in “moving forward” on defining U.S. vital interests. Allowing undocumented foreign nationals raised in the United States to enlist would provide a larger pool of qualified applicants, as well as more diversity within DOD, she said.
“But we think it’s very important to take a look at the MAVNI program that was established a while ago and see what that ‘vital to the national interest’ means,” Wright said at the hearing organized by Illinois Democratic Sen. Richard Durbin, chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on defense.
Durbin for years has pushed immigration reform that would, among other things, allow children brought to the United States illegally to gain citizenship through college education or military service.
Immigration reform legislation has passed the Senate but is stalled in the House of Representatives. And House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said Friday he wouldn’t allow debate on a bill filed by a fellow Republican, Rep. Jeff Denham of California, to allow children brought illegally into the country to enlist.
Some House Republicans have bashed such efforts, saying they reward lawlessness.
“Our nation’s military is full of dedicated men and women and to disrespect them by rewarding illegal aliens with citizenship is an insult,” Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said in a recent statement.
While undocumented immigrants are normally barred by federal law from the military, the law also allows the secretary of defense to make exceptions vital to the national interest, Durbin said.
“If the House Republicans refuse to move immigration reform,” Durbin said, “the Defense Department should use its authority under current law to authorize the enlistment of dreamers,” as young immigrants raised in the United States are often called.
The MAVNI program, which officials say has been most heavily used by the Army during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is set to expire in September but might be extended.
“The Department is in the process of reviewing ... program criteria,” Pentagon spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Nate Christensen said Tuesday in an email. “A final decision has not yet been made.”
Currently, Wright said, the MAVNI program exists to capture specific skills and language abilities — and the languages don’t include Spanish, common in the military and spoken by a large portion of the population who would be affected by immigration reform.
The Pentagon and the White House are “joined at the hip” on the issue, and agree that immigration reform is of vital importance, she said.
About 30,000 foreign nationals currently serve in the active-duty U.S. military as well as the Guard and reserve components, according to the Pentagon. For immigrants who hold legal residency, military service is a path to citizenship, with nearly 93,000 military members taking the U.S. citizenship oath since 2002.

carroll.chris@stripes.com
Twitter: @ChrisCarroll_

http://www.stripes.com/pentagon-eyes...rants-1.284100

Just shows what can be accomplished when we all pull together!:D

Quote:

Originally Posted by working4change

Just shows what can be accomplished when we all pull together!:D

now to pull together to get obama out & the illegal immigrants out

VICTORY! House Committee Blocks Military Amnesty from NDAA

https://www.numbersusa.com/sites/def...?itok=fHS9HmSC
Updated:

Wed, May 21^st 2014 @ 10:15 am EDT
The House Rules Committee completed the rule for full House consideration of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2015 and ruled Rep. Jeff Denham's (R-Calif.) ENLIST Act amendment out of order, signaling a victory for anti-amnesty activists. Denham's amendment would have granted amnesty to illegal aliens who came to the country under a certain age and signed up to serve in the military. The committee also blocked two other amendments that would have granted special privileges to illegal aliens.
The fight started over a month ago when we first caught wind of a secret plan in the House, with the assistance of Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), to include Denham's ENLIST Act in the original text of the NDAA. But under immense pressure from grassroots activists and Members of the House Armed Services Committee who opposed the amendment, its chairman, Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), kept it out of the original bill.
Denham then pushed to have it offered as an amendment during the Armed Service Committee's markup of the bill, but again McKeon responded to grassroots pressure and made sure the amendment wasn't offered.
After the Armed Services Committee passed the NDAA without the amnesty provision, Denham pushed to offer his bill as an amendment on the House floor. But again, pressure from the grassroots on both Rules Committee Members and House Leadership forced the Committee Chairman, Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) to rule the amendment out of order. The committee also ruled an amendment from Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) that would have allowed recipients of Pres. Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals to enlist in the military out of order, as well as an amendment from Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) that would have allowed illegal aliens to enroll in the military academies.
While the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act will be amnesty-free, the Senate is still considering whether or not it should add Denham's bill to their version of the NDAA. Further, House Speaker John Boehner and Cantor have made clear that they support Denham's bill, and Boehner promised on Tuesday to have a floor vote on the legislation.
Boehner said the Defense bill is the wrong spot for the vote, calling it "inappropriate," but he didn't rule out a vote on stand-alone administration.
"There have been discussions about that, but no decisions," he said.
Denham, who introduced the same proposal during last year's Defense authorization debate but yanked it in deference to colleagues, said he would "prefer" to see the issue taken up solo.
"That's not a discussion we have had yet but it certainly would be a willing compromise," he told reporters after the event. "I want a date certain of when a stand-alone bill would be" brought to the floor.

For more information, see The Hill.

https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/pr...picture-21.jpg THANKS TO ALL WHO MADE PHONE CALLS, SENT FAXES, DONATED TO GRASSROOTS MOBILIZATION AND VISITED REPS' OFFICES TO STOP THE MILITARY AMNESTY

The House Rules Committee last night bowed to the wishes of its Members' constituents and voted to keep military amnesty amendments off the giant Defense bill coming soon to the floor for a vote.
We have been intensely mobilizing many of you in the grassroots for weeks to persuade the committee to do just that.
The committee was under huge pressure from all kinds of amnesty advocates both left and right to include what would be a relatively small amnesty so it could be used by the Senate to advance the giant amnesty it passed last year.
The grassroots won this won. Take a bow.
But we have at least two more places we are likely to have to kill the military amnesty efforts after June 10.
I know that being on our mailing list means you get lots and lots of requests for actions -- especially when your Members of Congress are on a committee considering immigration matters.
But I hope on a day like this -- whether or not you were directly involved with the effort with the Rules Committee -- that you can derive satisfaction from the fact that you and your fellow Americans in this network have made such a difference on amendments that many in the media said were so popular that they were almost sure to go through.
THIS IS THE 3RD TIME YOU HAVE STOPPED THE AMNESTY THIS SPRING
1. The fight started over a month ago when we first caught wind of a secret plan in the House that was being assisted by Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.)
The main threat came from Rep. Jeff Denham's (R-Calif.) ENLIST ACT that he was trying to have included in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2015. He said Rep. Cantor had encouraged him to push the amendment which would grant amnesty to illegal aliens who came to the country under a certain age and then sign up to serve in the military.
But under immense pressure from grassroots activists, several Members of the House Armed Services Committee opposed the amendment despite it starting with a lot of bi-partisan support. They and the grassroots persuaded the committee's chairman, Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), to finally announce he wouldn't allow the Denham amnesty amendment to be part of the original bill.
2. Rep. Denham then pushed to have his amnesty offered as an amendment during the Armed Services Committee's markup of the bill. We did another grassroots mobilization on the committee.
Again Chairman McKeon was responsive to the grassroots and made sure the amendment wasn't offered.
3. After the Armed Services Committee passed the Defense bill without the amnesty provision, Rep. Denham pushed to offer his bill as an amendment on the House floor when the Defense bill came up for a vote by all Representatives.
That is when our grassroots mobilization began on the Rules Committee and House Leadership which usually gets what it wants out of the committee.
Last night, when the committee met, Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) ruled Denham's amnesty amendment out of order.
The committee also ruled against an amendment from Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) that would have allowed recipients of Pres. Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals to enlist in the military.
And it ruled out of order an amendment from Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) that would have allowed illegal aliens to enroll in the military academies.
SPIRITED PRIMARY CHALLENGE AGAINST REP. CANTOR PLAYING A ROLE
Although Majority Leader Cantor had been behind the amnesty push, according to Denham, Cantor highly publicized to his home district at the end that he was opposing adding the amnesty to the Defense bill.
Most commentators attributed Cantor's change of position to the fact that his immigration positions are under attack from Prof. Dave Brat in the Republican Primary to be held on June 10. In public gatherings in his district during the campaign, Cantor has faced stiff and visible opposition, according to media reports.
You can view the comparison between Cantor's and Brat's immigration positions here:
https://www.numbersusa.com/content/elections/races/congressional/house-election/2014-virginia-7th-congressional-district.html
To look at the websites and find how to support either race, click on their photo on that Candidate Comparison page.
BOEHNER & CANTOR APPEAR STILL TO BE COMMITTED TO SOME KIND OF FLOOR VOTE AFTER VIRGINIA PRIMARY
Many of the news commentators in Washington are saying that Cantor and Boehner have opposed ONLY adding the military amnesty to the Defense bill and are still hoping to have it come to the floor after key primaries are over as a stand-alone bill. In fact, Boehner just this week promised another chance for the amnesty later.
As that threat becomes more clear, we will once again come to you for specific action.
Thanks again for all the difference you have made thus far. I know that many of you are weary from having to fight both the Republican and Democratic leadership over and over again on the same bills and issues. Your weariness is what they are counting on. They have the money, the staffs and the power to just keep coming back until the grassroots stop fighting back.
Our job is to never stop fighting back.

ROY BECK, NUMBERSUSA PRESIDENT

Wed, May 21^st

https://www.numbersusa.com/news/vict...y-amnesty-ndaa