“And frankly, I’ll make clear we have no intention of ever going to conference on the Senate [immigration] bill. – House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), National Review Online, The Corner, 11/13/13
Fact Check: Rep. Steve King (R-IA) is not reassured by Boehner’s statement, one apparently made to reassure him and other opponents of the Senate’s amnesty/mass immigration bill. Said the Iowa congressman, “Any kind of bill that comes out of the House of Representatives turns into a conferanceable vehicle, and [such a vehicle] could come back to us with . . . parts of the [Senate’s] bill.
Rep. King says the actions of Boehner and other Republican House leaders have made him distrustful of their intentions. The majority leader, for example, has indicated that he would follow the Hastert rule with respect to immigration. Under that rule the Republican House leadership will not advance legislation unless a majority of Republican House members support it. Nevertheless, King notes, Boehner on several occasions during the past year has not abided by the Hastert rule.
An “ominous signal,” King maintains, is Boehner’s recent hiring of Rebecca Tallent as his immigration advisor. Tallent is a staunch supporter of amnesty and a former aide of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), one of the Senate’s leading proponents of the amnesty/mass immigration bill. King says that Boehner and the other GOP House leaders may seek a “loophole” to bring legislation to conference with the Senate’s bill.
His concerns are justified. Cheap labor interests have put tremendous pressure on Boehner, and much evidence suggests that he would like to accommodate them. The Republican leaders don’t seem concerned, says King, that amnesty and mass immigration eventually will increase the Democratic voting bloc and in time make Republicans a permanent minority.
Aside from his party’s interest, Rep. King affirms that amnesty is bad for all Americans who value our country as a nation under the rule of law. Amnesty advocates, as the congressman observes, want to let a certain class of people break our laws, and then—to add insult to injury—they further want to reward them with citizenship.
Debasing our law, as well as debasing the worth of our citizenship, can have no good consequences for the future of our country. If Boehner and company don’t hear from enough concerned citizens, amnesty next year is a distinct possibility.