The Washington Post's Greg Sargent has been campaigning for months, if not years, to get more Republicans to support amnesty. Here is a post of his from yesterday urging "center-right" groups like the Chamber of Commerce to increase pressure on Republicans on the issue. And here he is today spinning a Roll Call story finding that just 19 Republicans support Speaker John Boehner's (R-OH) latest amnesty plan:
The real significance of this is that it underscores once again that the refusal of House Republicans to move forward with immigration reform has absolutely nothing to do with ”distrust of Obama.” After all, only 19 House Republicans are willing to voice support for the House GOP leadership’s own immigration reform principles, which include some form of legalization for the 11 million (and not a special path to citizenship), provided security triggers are met.
This is just naive. The whole point of Boehner's vague "principles" was to build momentum in the caucus for some type of immigration legislation. And far more than just 19 Republicans are desperate to pass something, anything really, on immigration. They just don't trust Obama and the Democrats at all to deal honestly on the issue.
Roll Call's consummate Washington insider Stuart Rothenberg explains:
Taking up immigration reform wouldn’t guarantee a deal with congressional Democrats or the White House, unless, of course, Senate Republicans and Speaker John A. Boehner are willing to take any deal, no matter the price. And that price could change during the discussion, particularly if Democrats decide that playing hardball is an increasingly attractive option later this year.
What happens if ultimately unsuccessful negotiations stretch out for months, a deal never gets done, and Republicans are blamed for the impasse?
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Unless you were born yesterday you know for an absolute fact that this is exactly what Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is planning to do to Republicans should they ever pass anything out of the House.
Why on Earth would Republicans want to pass an amnesty dictated by Schumer and Obama now, when they have a good chance of taking the Senate in 2014 and passing a much more conservative bill through a Republican Senate and House in 2015?
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