I'm not thrilled with the statement from the House GOP. However, let's look at the glass half full. The reality you knew they would eschew the Senate bill. There's no real surprise there. At least they agreed yesterday at their meeting that they will put forward their own bill-rather than no bill.
So, no the debate hasn't been stalled. Now let's unpack their statement:
"Today House Republicans affirmed that rather than take up the flawed legislation rushed through the Senate, House committees will continue their work on a step-by-step, common-sense approach to fixing what has long been a broken system. "
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/boehner-cantor-house-will-forge-own-step-by
So the Senate bill is going to be the foil throughout the House process. It's dismissed as being the plan of the 'Democrat controlled Washington' though there was significant GOP input in crafting the bill through the Gang of Eight.
This peevish comment about Democrat controlled Washington also shows their lack of any sense of responsibility for the gridlock in Washington. While Congress gets low marks from Americans, their displeasure is not just with Democrats. As usual they are showing supreme levels of partisanship and lack of good faith.
"The American people want our border secured, our laws enforced, and the problems in our immigration system fixed to strengthen our economy. "
So border security and 'enforcing our laws' comes first while fixing the immigration system to strengthen the economy comes a distant second Still, at least they have eschewed the Heritage claim that immigration reform would throw millions of Americans out of work."
"But they don’t trust a Democratic-controlled Washington, and they’re alarmed by the president’s ongoing insistence on enacting a single, massive, Obamacare-like bill rather than pursuing a step-by-step, common-sense approach to actually fix the problem. The president has also demonstrated he is willing to unilaterally delay or ignore significant portions of laws he himself has signed, raising concerns among Americans that this administration cannot be trusted to deliver on its promises to secure the border and enforce laws as part of a single, massive bill like the one passed by the Senate."
So they're going to throw in the usual Obamacare baiting along with a typical GOP narrative that somehow passing a single, comprehensive bill is deeply sinister full of ill intent.
That's going to be the route this will take. Everything they have said suggests that more than anything this bill will be piecemeal. That and there is to be no path to citizenship. Yet, this is will follow an inevitable path. The Dems have made clear that at the end of the day in conference there has to be a path to citizenship or there is no bill.
The fact that they are saying no way now doesn't mean that we won't get there. I still think the most likely trajectory is that Boehner eventually allows the Senate bill to be voted on. I love the GOP narrative that this is somehow undemocratic-to simply let the House's entire body vote for this. Democracy according to them is where only the majority's vote counts. Still what I notice is that even now Boehner is leaving a door open for citizenship.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/07/11/boehner-opens-door-a-crack-to-citizenship/
So yes, I remain optimistic.
P.S. Philosophically, of course, the whole piecemeal canard is just a delaying tactic. It's not unlike when we've heard this 'libertarian' argument for 'states rights.' For instance, slavery should be decided at the state level said the libertarians of the 1850s, ditto for civil rights in the 1950s, or abortion, birth control, or gay marriage more recently. The reactionary side always prefers state or even local 'solutions' likewise the argument for 'piecemeal reform.' It's just much harder to get anything meaningful done this way.
So, no the debate hasn't been stalled. Now let's unpack their statement:
"Today House Republicans affirmed that rather than take up the flawed legislation rushed through the Senate, House committees will continue their work on a step-by-step, common-sense approach to fixing what has long been a broken system. "
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/boehner-cantor-house-will-forge-own-step-by
So the Senate bill is going to be the foil throughout the House process. It's dismissed as being the plan of the 'Democrat controlled Washington' though there was significant GOP input in crafting the bill through the Gang of Eight.
This peevish comment about Democrat controlled Washington also shows their lack of any sense of responsibility for the gridlock in Washington. While Congress gets low marks from Americans, their displeasure is not just with Democrats. As usual they are showing supreme levels of partisanship and lack of good faith.
"The American people want our border secured, our laws enforced, and the problems in our immigration system fixed to strengthen our economy. "
So border security and 'enforcing our laws' comes first while fixing the immigration system to strengthen the economy comes a distant second Still, at least they have eschewed the Heritage claim that immigration reform would throw millions of Americans out of work."
"But they don’t trust a Democratic-controlled Washington, and they’re alarmed by the president’s ongoing insistence on enacting a single, massive, Obamacare-like bill rather than pursuing a step-by-step, common-sense approach to actually fix the problem. The president has also demonstrated he is willing to unilaterally delay or ignore significant portions of laws he himself has signed, raising concerns among Americans that this administration cannot be trusted to deliver on its promises to secure the border and enforce laws as part of a single, massive bill like the one passed by the Senate."
So they're going to throw in the usual Obamacare baiting along with a typical GOP narrative that somehow passing a single, comprehensive bill is deeply sinister full of ill intent.
That's going to be the route this will take. Everything they have said suggests that more than anything this bill will be piecemeal. That and there is to be no path to citizenship. Yet, this is will follow an inevitable path. The Dems have made clear that at the end of the day in conference there has to be a path to citizenship or there is no bill.
The fact that they are saying no way now doesn't mean that we won't get there. I still think the most likely trajectory is that Boehner eventually allows the Senate bill to be voted on. I love the GOP narrative that this is somehow undemocratic-to simply let the House's entire body vote for this. Democracy according to them is where only the majority's vote counts. Still what I notice is that even now Boehner is leaving a door open for citizenship.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/07/11/boehner-opens-door-a-crack-to-citizenship/
So yes, I remain optimistic.
P.S. Philosophically, of course, the whole piecemeal canard is just a delaying tactic. It's not unlike when we've heard this 'libertarian' argument for 'states rights.' For instance, slavery should be decided at the state level said the libertarians of the 1850s, ditto for civil rights in the 1950s, or abortion, birth control, or gay marriage more recently. The reactionary side always prefers state or even local 'solutions' likewise the argument for 'piecemeal reform.' It's just much harder to get anything meaningful done this way.
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