NRO Says Amnesty Bill is “classic Washington: a plan to have a plan”

Katherine Rosario | June 17, 2013

National Review has taken a thorough look at the Gang of Eight amnesty bill and concluded that it is fundamentally flawed. It does not serve our economic or national security interests, and it would create a “permanent underclass of foreign workers.”

It is painful to watch Marco Rubio’s maneuverings on immigration. He is refusing to say whether he will vote “yes” on his own Gang of Eight bill after spending months drafting, defending, and helping shepherd it to the floor. He has supposedly discovered that the enforcement provisions are inadequate, although he has done countless interviews touting that the bill contains the “toughest immigration-enforcement measures in the history of United States” (which is what his website still says). At the same time, Rubio declares the bill 95–96 percent perfect.

This is all very confusing, but perhaps we can help the senator get his story straight: He should vote against the bill. It is an amnesty-first, enforcement-maybe program drawn up mainly to reflect the priorities of 11 million citizens of other countries rather than the concerns of more than 300 million citizens of the United States.

…

[T]he fines for illegal immigrants contemplated by the Gang of Eight can, under the current bill, be waived by DHS, and the collection of unpaid taxes applies only to levies already assessed by our dear friends at the IRS. The main security provisions of the legislation require only that DHS draw up a plan for security. (That is classic Washington: a plan to have a plan.)

The bill is full of flaws, but the article identifies the central or fundamental flaw, which is that “legalization of millions of illegal immigrants happens first, immediately and irreversibly.” The bill is wrong “in its fundamental architecture.”

Read the whole article here.

House “Farm” Bill: A Central Planner’s Paradise, Astronomical Costs for Taxpayers

Katherine Rosario | June 17, 2013

The House is now considering a 629-page extension of the trillion-dollar food stamp and farm bill, and like Obamacare, it’s a central planners dream. Through a combination of new farm subsidy programs, an expanded and costly crop insurance program, income protections for certain farmers, and the “shallow” loss program, this bill puts taxpayers at a major risk.

All of these fancy policy terms boil down to one idea: government control and manipulation.

With the “farm” bill, the federal government imposes its will on the agriculture industry at great expense to taxpayers – and when we say great, we mean nearly $1 trillion, more than $750 billion of which is for food stamps.

Of course, manipulation can be a two way street. Big farm lobbies, particularly the corn and soybeans lobbies, have Congress wrapped around their little finger. They are so influential that the House bill would ensure “farmers have virtually no risk.”

Pretty nice deal for them, eh?

But it’s not a nice deal for taxpayers, as Heritage explains:

Many of the cost assumptions for the new programs are based on commodity prices staying at or near record highs. If these prices come down to their long-term averages, the costs to taxpayers could be astronomical.

Morning Action: Farm Bill, Immigration Debates Continue

Katherine Rosario | June 17, 2013

IMMIGRATION. In the weeks ahead, a myriad of different special interest groups will influence the Senate debate on the Gang of Eight amnesty bill:

Proponents of the bill, however, say the measures already in the bill reflect the need to fix many parts of a broken immigration system Congress last overhauled in 1986.

“This bill is the best chance for a lot of people to have a lot of their specific issues addressed,” said Bob Sakaniwa,of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, a group advocating for the overhaul. “There’s been this pent-up demand.”

Even before the immigration debate began on the Senate floor last week, the overhaul included provisions long the focus of intense lobbying by an array of interests groups. For instance, the technology industry lobbied successfully to secure more visas for foreign engineers, programmers and other high-skilled workers, while the bill sets aside 10,500 visas each year for Irish immigrants.

More changes are expected during the weeks of debate ahead.

Cloakroom: June 17 – June 21

Josh Robbins | June 16, 2013

House Cloakroom

Analysis: This week the House will take up their version of the farm bill. Like the Senate bill that has already passed it is a nearly $1 trillion reauthorization of food stamps and agriculture subsidies. The Heritage Foundation has compiled a list of 20 unjustified programs from the bill, including a tax on Christmas trees. Also on the floor next week will be a bill banning abortions in the District of Columbia after 20 weeks when unborn babies are capable of feeling pain.

The Best of the Forge

Katherine Rosario | June 15, 2013

SORRY CHAIRMAN RYAN, IT IS AMNESTY

Yesterday at a forum on immigration sponsored by the National Association of Manufacturers, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) said the Senate’s Gang of Eight bill “is not amnesty” because “amnesty is wiping the slate clean and not paying any penalty for having done something wrong.”

We beg to differ, Mr. Chairman.