Senate Immigration Bills Go Down in Flames!
From The Hill:
The Senate rejected legislation based on President Trump’s framework for an immigration deal in a 39-60 vote on Thursday, leaving an uncertain path forward for Congress with nearly a million immigrants sheltered by an Obama-era program facing the prospect of deportation.
The measure spearheaded by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) needed 60 votes to clear a filibuster, but failed to meet the mark.
It was the fourth proposal in a row rejected by the Senate on Thursday afternoon, and it received the fewest votes of support. All three other measures won more than 50 votes.
It’s unclear where we go from here. Senator John Cornyn has said he doubts the body will spend more time on the issue. The "deferred action" program for illegal immigrants who arrived as children expires March 5...
CAIRCO Notes
The liberal media are not reporting the most significant fact about the February 15, 2018 Senate votes on four DACA-related bills. That is, a majority of the Senate's Republicans (in fact, two-thirds of them) supported only one bill, the President's immigration plan. The other three were immigration-as-usual Democrat bills with token Republican support, similar to the "Gang of 8" bill of 2013.
Related
White House: Democrats’ ‘Open Border Fringe’ Blocks Immigration Reform, Breitbart, February 15, 2018:
Senate Democrats “are held hostage by the radical left in their party, which opposes any immigration control at all,” said a White House statement slamming the Democrats who blocked President Donald Trump’s amnesty-and-reform compromise on February 15....
The White House plan was defeated 39 to 60 votes during the afternoon, largely because only three Democrats voted for the legislation. Under Senate rules, each proposal needed 60 votes for passage....
Progressives and ethnic lobbies have bitterly opposed Trump’s plan because it would also gradually reduce the inflow of migrants who favor the Democratic Party’s redistributionist policies....
From NumbersUSA, February 15, 2018:
Your overwhelming response to our alerts all week has paid off as the Senate has just now failed to pass any of the amnesty proposals considered today. (Unfortunately, it also failed to pass an amendment to restrict sanctuary cities)..
NumbersUSA HAS endorsed Chairman Goodlatte's H.R. 4760 because it includes the required provisions to prevent the next DACA wave: an immediate end to chain migration, an end to the visa lottery, and mandatory E-Verify. You can read Roy's op-ed in The Hill explaining our support. But NONE of the DACA proposals considered today included all three of those provisions and one even included amnesty for virtually every illegal alien currently in the country and some who haven't arrived yet.
We just issued the following statement to the media:
NumbersUSA and its 9 million activists are pleased that the Senate rejected all three amnesty proposals that came to the floor today for a vote. Every proposal under consideration put the interests of illegal aliens and foreign citizens ahead of the interests of American workers, American communities, and national security. Americans can not afford for Congress to grant amnesty without immediately ending Chain Migration and the Visa Lottery and mandating E-Verify.
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WHAT HAPPENED?
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell scheduled four immigration votes for today. The first was the amendment offered by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) followed by Sen. Pat Toomey's (R-Pa.) sanctuary cities amendment, the awful Schumer/Collins/Rounds/King amendment, and finally, the Grassley/Cornyn amendment that reflected the White House proposal. Remember, Cloture was invoked on all the votes today so 60 YES votes were required to pass anything. Vote tallies are listed as YES-NO below
McCain/Coons -- The McCain/Coons amendment would have granted amnesty to 3.2 million illegal aliens and required a government study on the effectiveness of building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. NumbersUSA opposed this amendment, and the White House has already issued a veto threat. The amendment failed by a vote of 52-47.
Toomey amendment -- The amendment offered by Sen. Toomey would have: 1) blocked certain Federal grants to sanctuary jurisdictions and reallocate those funds to jurisdictions that uphold Federal law, 2) protected local police from lawsuits for honoring ICE detainer requests, and 3) explicitly allowed localities to protect from referral to ICE victims of or witnesses to a crime. NumbersUSA supported this amendment. The amendment failed by a vote of 54-45.
Schumer/Collins/Rounds/King amendment -- The amendment offered by Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), and Angus King (I-Maine) had the support of a handful of Republican Senators and all 49 Democratic Senators. It was expected to receive 65 votes when it reached the floor.
The Schumer/Collins/Rounds/King amendment would have granted amnesty to all DACA-eligible illegal aliens and gutted interior enforcement, protecting most illegal aliens currently here, or who could get here by June 30, 2018, from removal. The Department of Homeland Security estimates that it would have granted amnesty to more than 10 million illegal aliens. NumbersUSA opposed this amendment. The amendment failed by a vote of 54-45.
Grassley/Cornyn amendment -- The amendment offered by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) reflected the White House proposal. It would have expanded DACA to grant an immediate amnesty to approximately 1.8 million illegal aliens. It called for a $25 billion trust fund to build the border wall and improve overall border security. It would have eliminated the Visa Lottery and halted new applications for Chain Migration, but usde those supposedly eliminated visas to bring in the backlog of more than 4 million foreigners, which could take 15-20 years. NumbersUSA opposed this amendment. Pres. Trump has endorsed this amendment. The amendment failed by a vote of 39-60.
WHAT'S NEXT?
The House and Senate are on recess next week. In the meantime, stay tuned to your alerts and newsletters as we will be coming to you with more details about what to expect next. You can also expect to see your Senators' votes reflected on their gradecards...