Boehner is lecturing Democrats on what it takes to pass immigration reform: he says it needs bipartisan support.
“In my view, anything as far-reaching, as complex, and as permanent as immigration reform should not be enacted without broad bipartisan support,” he said. “Every day as Obamacare is being implemented, Americans are reminded of what happens when you have big legislation rammed through Congress with minimum support."
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/john-boehner-bipartisan-immigration-reform-93114.html#ixzz2X4f5W280
This pious homilie to bipartisanship is more than a little ironic. He's saying that for anything important to be done we need broad bipartisan support, yet in this very day he has failed yet again to get a bill he proposed through the House because it was so toxic to the minority Democrats that they refused to support it, thereby guaranteeing it failure.
"The House has rejected a five year, half-trillion-dollar farm bill that would have cut $2 billion annually from food stamps and let states impose broad new work requirements on those who receive them."
"Those cuts weren’t deep enough for many Republicans who objected to the cost of the nearly $80 billion-a-year program, which has doubled in the past five years. The vote was 234-195 against the bill, with 62 Republicans voting against it."
"The bill also suffered from lack of Democratic support necessary for the traditionally bipartisan farm bill to pass. Only 24 Democrats voted in favor of the legislation after many said the food stamp cuts could remove as many as 2 million needy recipients from the rolls. The addition of the optional state work requirements by an amendment just before final passage turned away any remaining Democratic votes the bill’s supporters may have had."
"Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson, the senior Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, said the work requirements, along with another vote that scuttled a proposed dairy overhaul, turned too many lawmakers against the measure."
“Our people didn’t know this was coming,” Peterson said after the vote.
Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., said the same, telling reporters the vote “turned out to be a heavier lift even than I expected. “
"House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., voted for the bill, but Boehner supported the dairy amendment and Cantor supported the amendment that imposed the work requirements."
"Lucas and Peterson had warned that adoption of those amendments could contribute to the bill’s downfall."
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/house-votes-down-farm-bill-that-would-cut-food-stamps-by-2-billion.php?ref=fpa
This legislation needed to die. The poor have taken enough food stamp cuts already in the middle of a recession. It's morally perverse but also economically: food stamps are the kind of fiscal stimulus that has a very high multiplier.
http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/134117/err103_1_.pdf
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3239
In any case, if Boehner had followed his own advice and proposed a truly bipartisan bill he wouldn't have egg on his face-again. Obviously the way to get Democratic support is not to tie food stamps to getting a job-it never occurs to them that someone is on food stamps precisely because they either don't have a job or have a poorly paid one.
Talking Points Memo makes the same point: this underscores that the only way to pass immigration reform is precisely what Boehner claims to want-a bipartisan bill.
This is a very big whoops. There will be plenty of recriminations for Republicans if they don’t get their act together on the farm bill, and the only way to get their act together is if they acquiesce to reality and agree to move something that isn’t completely toxic to Democrats. But more broadly, it’s tough to look at the farm bill fiasco and imagine the House passing an immigration reform bill that Dems don’t carry."
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/06/suddenly_the_stakes_are_clear.php?ref=fpblg
Beutler also gets it right that the question of whether immigration passes or not comes down to Boehner-does he insist on the Hastert Rule-which doesn't allow any bill brought to the House floor without the majority of the majority-that is Republican-support?
If so then it won't pass. If he sets the Hastert Rule aside then it will. It's really that simple. My educated guess is that he ultimately will ignore the Hastert Rule. We've seen him do it enough this year already like on the fiscal cliff to start the year, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) as well as Hurricane Sandy relief. He's not so far gone that he doesn't recognize when something simply must pass. That he has just hung out with a Latino rights group underscored the fact that he knows failure of immigration reform is unthinkable for the GOP.
“In my view, anything as far-reaching, as complex, and as permanent as immigration reform should not be enacted without broad bipartisan support,” he said. “Every day as Obamacare is being implemented, Americans are reminded of what happens when you have big legislation rammed through Congress with minimum support."
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/john-boehner-bipartisan-immigration-reform-93114.html#ixzz2X4f5W280
This pious homilie to bipartisanship is more than a little ironic. He's saying that for anything important to be done we need broad bipartisan support, yet in this very day he has failed yet again to get a bill he proposed through the House because it was so toxic to the minority Democrats that they refused to support it, thereby guaranteeing it failure.
"The House has rejected a five year, half-trillion-dollar farm bill that would have cut $2 billion annually from food stamps and let states impose broad new work requirements on those who receive them."
"Those cuts weren’t deep enough for many Republicans who objected to the cost of the nearly $80 billion-a-year program, which has doubled in the past five years. The vote was 234-195 against the bill, with 62 Republicans voting against it."
"The bill also suffered from lack of Democratic support necessary for the traditionally bipartisan farm bill to pass. Only 24 Democrats voted in favor of the legislation after many said the food stamp cuts could remove as many as 2 million needy recipients from the rolls. The addition of the optional state work requirements by an amendment just before final passage turned away any remaining Democratic votes the bill’s supporters may have had."
"Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson, the senior Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, said the work requirements, along with another vote that scuttled a proposed dairy overhaul, turned too many lawmakers against the measure."
“Our people didn’t know this was coming,” Peterson said after the vote.
Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., said the same, telling reporters the vote “turned out to be a heavier lift even than I expected. “
"House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., voted for the bill, but Boehner supported the dairy amendment and Cantor supported the amendment that imposed the work requirements."
"Lucas and Peterson had warned that adoption of those amendments could contribute to the bill’s downfall."
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/house-votes-down-farm-bill-that-would-cut-food-stamps-by-2-billion.php?ref=fpa
This legislation needed to die. The poor have taken enough food stamp cuts already in the middle of a recession. It's morally perverse but also economically: food stamps are the kind of fiscal stimulus that has a very high multiplier.
http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/134117/err103_1_.pdf
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3239
In any case, if Boehner had followed his own advice and proposed a truly bipartisan bill he wouldn't have egg on his face-again. Obviously the way to get Democratic support is not to tie food stamps to getting a job-it never occurs to them that someone is on food stamps precisely because they either don't have a job or have a poorly paid one.
Talking Points Memo makes the same point: this underscores that the only way to pass immigration reform is precisely what Boehner claims to want-a bipartisan bill.
This is a very big whoops. There will be plenty of recriminations for Republicans if they don’t get their act together on the farm bill, and the only way to get their act together is if they acquiesce to reality and agree to move something that isn’t completely toxic to Democrats. But more broadly, it’s tough to look at the farm bill fiasco and imagine the House passing an immigration reform bill that Dems don’t carry."
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/06/suddenly_the_stakes_are_clear.php?ref=fpblg
Beutler also gets it right that the question of whether immigration passes or not comes down to Boehner-does he insist on the Hastert Rule-which doesn't allow any bill brought to the House floor without the majority of the majority-that is Republican-support?
If so then it won't pass. If he sets the Hastert Rule aside then it will. It's really that simple. My educated guess is that he ultimately will ignore the Hastert Rule. We've seen him do it enough this year already like on the fiscal cliff to start the year, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) as well as Hurricane Sandy relief. He's not so far gone that he doesn't recognize when something simply must pass. That he has just hung out with a Latino rights group underscored the fact that he knows failure of immigration reform is unthinkable for the GOP.
No comments:
Post a Comment