“Declining wages, perpetually high unemployment, sluggish economic growth \u2014 all these and more hang over the United States like a cloud. This economic decline has potent implications for the Republican party. Exit polling from 2012 suggests that GOP struggles with the worried working class have proved disastrous to the party. It is also highly likely that the continued hollowing out of the economic middle will increase the appetite for big-government programs. It would seem to be a strategic necessity for Republicans to speak to \u2014 and meet \u2014 the needs of the middle class,” says Fred Bauer at National Review<\/a>.<\/p>\n “When incomes are adjusted for inflation, the median American worker earns less per week now than he or she did ten years ago. The employment-to-population ratio has not been lower in decades. Unemployment remains very high. The Economic Policy Institute has argued that ‘the main problem in the labor market is a broad-based lack of demand for workers \u2014 and not, as is often claimed, available workers lacking the skills needed for the sectors with job openings.’ And still the Gang of Eight\u2019s immigration bill insists that one of our principal problems is too few workers \u2014 or too few workers with the right skills, or too few workers willing to work for too little. Much of the evidence seems to suggest that we have a very slack labor market, not a very tight one.”<\/p>\n “As someone who approves some provisions of the proposed [amnesty]legislation, I still find it unsettling to see such self-delusion on the part of proponents. The laudable impulse to improve the Republican party\u2019s standing among Hispanics should not lead to embracing a bad bill. Nor should Republicans imagine that immigration reform is a magic bullet that will initiate a flood of Hispanic voters into Republican ranks,” says Mona Charen at National Review<\/a>.<\/p>\n “It should be axiomatic that if a bill is 1,190 pages long, it is full of mischief, and this one is. Just as Obamacare hands lots of discretion about everything from medical-school admissions to antibiotic ointments to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the immigration law hands many crucial decisions to the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Labor.”<\/p>\n “Republicans (and red state Democrats) used to tell voters amazing things about their opposition to amnesty. Then they got elected and supported legislation that actually weakens border security and puts people on a path not just to legalization, but to citizenship, before ever securing our borders,” says Erick Erikson at Redstate.com<\/a>, about a list of quotes from those Senators.<\/p>\n Among those quoted was Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN). “We cannot restore a system of legal immigration \u2013 which is the real American Dream \u2013 if we undermine it by granting new benefits to those who are here illegally.”<\/p>\n “A prominent tea party organization is signaling to Republican legislators that they could face primary challenges if they support the comprehensive immigration overhaul being voted on in Congress this week. ‘Sixty-four percent of our local coordinators predict primary challengers for those who vote \u2018Yes\u2019 on the amnesty bill,’ said Jenny Beth Martin, the national coordinator for Tea Party Patriots,” the Daily Caller reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n “The apparent threat to pro-immigration reform Republicans comes as the Senate appears poised to pass the legislation authored by the Gang of Eight this week.” Mona Charen: GOP Shouldn’t Legislate in a Panic<\/h3>\n
Erickson: Senators’ Votes Contradict Past Statements on Amnesty<\/h3>\n
Tea Party Leaders Threaten Primary Campaigns Against GOP Amnesty Supporters<\/h3>\n