The substance of the matter is making half the illegal immigrants in the country into quasi legal immigrants. Call it 4.5 million amnesties.
The outrage on TV is all about process, the fact that Obama plans to do this by executive order, rather that going for an act of Congress. They don't talk about what Obama is going to do, they object to how he is going to do it. They don't talk much about the fact that Congress isn't going to pass a big amnesty law because the voters don't want it. Just two weeks ago the voters made it very clear what happens to Congressmen who fail to vote their districts.
The polls show maybe 60% of voters are against the idea, but 40% are all right with it. At that rate, Obama can probably get away with it, I don't see support for impeachment in those poll numbers. The lawyers will natter back and forth about legality, but I'll bet the Congress passed enough loosely written laws over the years to allow nearly anything.
Showing posts with label amnesty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label amnesty. Show all posts
Thursday, November 20, 2014
What should the Republicans do?
About Obama's threatened mass amnesty by executive order? According to the TV news, Obama will go on TV tonight and announce amnesty by executive order for 5 million illegals already in the country. He is going to issue green cards, driver's licenses, and everything except health care. Needless to say this does not meet with approval from the voters, the Congress, state governors, or Republicans.
Now that the Republicans control Congress they can retaliate, if they want. Question: What can they do to a lame duck president that doesn't anger the electorate?
Shutting down the government or refusing to hike the debt ceiling, have been tried in the past, and have damaged the reputation and electoral chances of those who tried it.
Strongest power of the Congress is the power of the purse. If Congress does not appropriate money, the activity dries up and blows away. There are a lot of things that Obama likes, that are not really essential to operation of the country. We could do just fine without the EPA, the Federal department of Education, the Highway Trust Fund, the Agriculture department, the SEC, the Davis Bacon "Hire only Union Workers" law, the Dodd Frank "Big bank bailout law", NSA telephone snooping, and the Sarbanes-Oxley "drive mergers and acquisitions to London" law.
Congress could simply refuse any funds to these worthless and parasitic operations. That's veto proof too.
To exert the power of the purse, Congress must stop passing 1000 page "Fund the entire government" continuing resolutions. It's too easy to hide money for anything in 1000 pages of government certified gooble-de-gook. Congress needs to pass separate appropriation bills, one for for each federal activity, that yields a smaller bill which energetic activists have a chance of understanding, and finding the slush funds. And, each one can be debated and politicked without shutting down the entire government.
When the one big continuing resolution comes close to the deadline, Congressmen get asked "Do you wnat to be responsible for shutting down the whole government just to get your petty item on page 754?" Most Congressmen cave at that point.
Whereas if it was just say the EPA appropriations bill, the Congressman could say "Hell yes. I want this pernicious activity defunded. If I don't get it, I''ll shut to whole EPA down."
Now that the Republicans control Congress they can retaliate, if they want. Question: What can they do to a lame duck president that doesn't anger the electorate?
Shutting down the government or refusing to hike the debt ceiling, have been tried in the past, and have damaged the reputation and electoral chances of those who tried it.
Strongest power of the Congress is the power of the purse. If Congress does not appropriate money, the activity dries up and blows away. There are a lot of things that Obama likes, that are not really essential to operation of the country. We could do just fine without the EPA, the Federal department of Education, the Highway Trust Fund, the Agriculture department, the SEC, the Davis Bacon "Hire only Union Workers" law, the Dodd Frank "Big bank bailout law", NSA telephone snooping, and the Sarbanes-Oxley "drive mergers and acquisitions to London" law.
Congress could simply refuse any funds to these worthless and parasitic operations. That's veto proof too.
To exert the power of the purse, Congress must stop passing 1000 page "Fund the entire government" continuing resolutions. It's too easy to hide money for anything in 1000 pages of government certified gooble-de-gook. Congress needs to pass separate appropriation bills, one for for each federal activity, that yields a smaller bill which energetic activists have a chance of understanding, and finding the slush funds. And, each one can be debated and politicked without shutting down the entire government.
When the one big continuing resolution comes close to the deadline, Congressmen get asked "Do you wnat to be responsible for shutting down the whole government just to get your petty item on page 754?" Most Congressmen cave at that point.
Whereas if it was just say the EPA appropriations bill, the Congressman could say "Hell yes. I want this pernicious activity defunded. If I don't get it, I''ll shut to whole EPA down."
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