It’s difficult to tell who Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is serving these days. Is it his constituents, the Republican caucus, or Democrats?
How he proceeds on immigration after a two-week stand off with President Obama will surely tell.
Obama has made it clear that his next priority is strong-arming the House into an amnesty bill. In order to achieve that he would need Boehner to allow a vote on Pelosi’s massive amnesty plan or the Senate bill, which hasn’t even been referred to the House. Of course, you’d never know that considering the unending calls from amnesty activists for Boehner to bring it to the floor.
Or, there’s another way for Obama, the Democrats, and special interests to get what they want – have the Republican-led House pass just a handful of immigration bills. They can be solely enforcement focused, make nominal improvements on the border, expand big business access to cheap foreign labor, or yet another veiled attempt to delay in visa-tracking.
Whatever the bill(s) passed by the House, Democrats have one goal: get to conference with the Senate amnesty bill. This is the message from Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer, and Bob Menendez – just to name a few. And they can achieve that goal with any bill passed by the House.
Numerous Republicans have voiced concern about passing any immigration bills knowing full well the Democrats’ and pro-amnesty crowd’s intentions. Former member of the House Gang of Eight, Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) said, “It would be crazy for Republicans to pass immigration reform and go to conference.” Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) is circulating a letter asking GOP leadership to commit to no amnesty and no negotiations with the Senate.
Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.) claims Boehner told him there’d be no cooperation with the Senate on their amnesty bill – but the Speaker’s staff would not confirm.
So the question remains: Who will Boehner and House Republicans take their marching orders from? Will they hand a victory to Obama and the Democrats by using House legislation to negotiate an amnesty with the Senate? Or, will Republicans decide that serving Americans’ interests is more important.