Actual Good News: Gang Of Eight Immigration Bill Dead For 2013

Harry Reid and John McCain hardest hit...

Via The Hill:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) chided Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) for his refusal to negotiate with the Senate on immigration reform.
“I'm stunned,” Reid said in an interview Wednesday with Fusion, a joint venture by ABC News and Univision. “How could anybody in good conscience tell one group he's trying to do immigration reform, and a few minutes later, say 'I'm not going to do anything about a conference?' "
Earlier in the day, Boehner reiterated what he’s said before on immigration reform: “I'll make clear we have no intention ever of going to conference on the Senate bill."
His comments confirmed the House will not take up the issue this year, which President Obama and Democrats have pressed for. Last week, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) also ruled it out for 2013, arguing there are too few legislative days remaining in this session.

Amnesty Blow-back: Sen. Marco Rubio tied for 6th in New Hampshire 2016 poll...

Sen. Marco Rubio has done serious damage to his image and credibility with Republicans and Conservatives. Supporting Sen. Chuck Schumer's "Gang of Eight" amnesty without border security bill has cost him. Senate democrats were desperate to get Rubio on-board. it's unclear why he signed on for and campaigned for such a bad deal. The Schumer bill will legalize more than 11 million new democratic borders and has no serious enforcement of border security.

The latest Granite State poll by WMUR and the University of New Hampshire was released late on Tuesday and it shows U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., sinking in New Hampshire, home of the first presidential primary. Rubio is expected to run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. In recent months. Rubio has drawn fire from conservatives for his prominent role in supporting immigration reform.

The poll finds New Hampshire Republicans divided on who they want to see as their party’s nominee in 2016. Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey leads the pack with 21 percent followed by U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., with 16 percent. Former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida is in third with 10 percent followed by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., with 8 percent and Rubio with 6 percent. Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania is tied with two Texans -- Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz -- in sixth with 4 percent each. Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin takes 2 percent. Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and two Ohio Republicans -- Gov. John Kasich and U.S. Sen. Rob Portman -- all take less than 1 percent.

Ted Cruz identified the flaws in the bill Rubio supported in this letter:

   Letter from Sens. Cruz, Sessions, Lee, Grassley Voicing Concerns with S. 744 by Senator Ted Cruz

Poll: 65 percent of Democrats oppose giving welfare benefits to illegals under Gang Of Eight Immigration Bill…

Chuckie Schumer and Marco Rubio hardest hit...

Via Washington Examiner:

Majorities of Americans may tell pollsters they support the idea of giving citizenship to illegal immigrants, but a new poll from National Journal suggests that may change as they are better informed about what the immigration legislation currently being debated in Congress really does.
According to the latest United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll, 77 percent of Americans oppose giving government benefits, like food stamps and Medicaid, to illegal immigrants before they become citizens. Not only do 90 percent of Republicans oppose such a policy, but 65 percent of Democrats do as well.
Unfortunately for supporters of the Schumer-Rubio immigration legislation, that is exactly what the bill does according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Keep on reading…

Gang of Eight Fail: CBO finds their bill will only reduce illegal immigration by 25%

25%? That's just a drop in the bucket. 

Via NRO:

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has released its analysis of the economic impact of the Gang of Eight’s immigration-reform proposal. Proponents are likely to emphasize the report’s findings that the bill would reduce the federal deficit by $197 billion over the next decade (although Republicans will likely be asked to explain why this estimate is any more reliable than the CBO’s predictionsregarding Obamacare).

However, the bill’s supporters are certain to downplay other aspects of the CBO report, particularly the section on “Future Unauthorized Residents.” The CBO predicts that some of the bill’s enforcement measures, such as the establishment of an employment-verification system, are likely to reduce the future flow of illegal immigrants, but they’re less optimistic about the bill’s ability to stop individuals from overstaying their temporary work visas, a problem that accounts for at least 40 percent of the existing population of illegal immigrants.

“Other aspects of the bill would probably increase the number of unauthorized residents — in particular, people overstaying their visas issued under the new programs for temporary workers,” CBO writes. And as a result, “the net annual flow of unauthorized residents would decrease by about 25 percent relative to what would occur under current law.”

Keep reading…

Sen. Chuck Schummer claims if the Gang of Eight bill passes,

“Illegal immigration will be a thing of the past,”

I am calling BS on the CBO report showing Gang of Eight Immigration Bill reduces budget deficit and here is why...

Check out the revenue sources for the 1st 10 yeas in this screen capture from the report. I have highlighted the off budget revenues ($214.3 billion) in red. These are mostly from social security payroll taxes. Keep in mind most of the newly legalized immigrants will be years from retirement and the few that are close won't have a lot of years paying in to raise their benefit level. As you might expect off budget the outlay in the 1st ten years is very small. Actually, it's only $2.6 billion (highlight in blue) of the expected $216.8 billion in expected new spending. If you don't consider off budget items such as social security, there is a $14.2 billion deficit. When you consider how optimistic and wrong most CBO projections are (take a look at their first Obamacare projection compared to the most recent), this deficit will balloon significantly in later years. The social security and medicare for these new immigrants will have to be paid eventually.

CNN Poll: Sixty-two percent think border security should be main focus in immigration reform...

The current Gang of Eight bill puts border security after legalization of illegals. Democrats will have no motivation to support stronger border security at that point. Anyone who believes otherwise is naive.

Via The Washington Examiner:

CNN also asked another question: “What should be the main focus of the U.S. government in dealing with immigration policy?” The possible answers were “Creating a path to citizenship for many immigrants who are in this country without permission from the U.S. government” and “Increasing border security to reduce or eliminate the number of immigrants coming into this country without permission from the U.S. government.”

Sixty-two percent said that increasing border security should be the main focus of the government, while 36 percent said creating a path to citizenship. There were significant differences between the parties. Democrats favored path to citizenship by a 50-49 margin. Independents answered border security by a 65-33 margin. And Republicans favored border security by a 74-24 margin.

The Gang of Eight bill under consideration is based on a sequence in which currently-illegal immigrants are first awarded legal status, and then border security is increased, and then the immigrants move to a path to citizenship.[...] Keep on reading...

Actual Good News: Sen. Robert Menendez claims Gang of Eight’s immigration reform bill does not have enough votes to pass

Best news of the day...

Via Breitbart:

According to Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), the so-called Gang of Eight’s immigration reform bill does not have enough votes at this point to pass the Senate.

Even though the bill has exited the Senate Judiciary Committee with a 13-5 vote, Menendez says that it will not receive 60 votes thanks to Republican opposition. “We don’t currently have 60 votes identified in the Senate,” Menendez told Univision. “We need to add more votes on the floor. That means that the community in your state, in every state, should be contacting your state’s two US Senators saying that they want comprehensive immigration reform, that they are going to judge their political future based on this vote.”

Several Republican senators have expressed support for debating the bill, but do not support the bill itself yet, including Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Menendez does believe that by the time of the Senate vote, which he said will take place just after July 4, the votes will be there. “I believe that in those three weeks we can get the necessary votes and we will have the community. We are expecting that and working for that.”

Keep on reading…

Gang of Eight Immigration Bill Allows $150 million for Advertizing to Sign Illegals Up...

The more we learn, the worse this bill looks. 

Via Fox:

A Washington group is criticizing the Senate immigration bill because it allows for up to $150 million for organizations to advertise citizenship opportunities and to help illegal immigrants sign up to become citizens.

The nonpartisan Center for Immigration Services calls the money “slush funds” and earlier this week cited several concerns — particularly that the money can go to the same groups that helped craft the legislation and that the spending appears to have no cap or oversight.

“It’s virtually a blank check,” Jon Feere, a Center for Immigration Services legal policy analyst, told FoxNews.com. “And the groups that helped draft this bill can now give themselves taxpayer dollars.”

The money is divided into two parts. The first is $100 million in grants to public and private nonprofit groups for programs that help people apply for provisional immigrant status, which includes assistance with completing applications and gathering proof of identification.

Keep on reading…

Sen. David Vitter Tweeting Serious Flaws in Gang of Eight Immigration Bill...

The bill pretty much gives Janet Napolitano the power to do anything she wants. What could possible go wrong?

#Gof8Fact pg 11 of #Gangof8 bill says that Secretary of Homeland Security can alter legal immigrant status of #DREAM and ag. workers.
— David Vitter (@DavidVitter) April 30, 2013

#Gof8Fact pg 65 of #Gangof8 bill says Homeland Security Secretary can waive inadmissibility for humanitarian purposes and public interest
— David Vitter (@DavidVitter) May 1, 2013

#Gof8Fact pg 66 of #Gangof8 bill says Sec of Homeland Security gets discretion on whether to start legal proceedings to remove illegals
— David Vitter (@DavidVitter) May 1, 2013

Still going through #Gangof8 bill. #Gof8Fact pg 69 says Sec of Homeland Security can extend time allowed to apply for legal status
— David Vitter (@DavidVitter) May 1, 2013

#Gof8Fact pg 71 #Gangof8bill lets Sec of Homeland Security waive citizenship eligibility for illegals who have been ordered for deportation
— David Vitter (@DavidVitter) May 1, 2013

I'm still reading through the #Gangof8 bill #Gof8Fact pg 83 says Sec of Homeland Security can waive citizenship processing fees for illegals
— David Vitter (@DavidVitter) May 2, 2013

More red flags in #Gangof8 bill #Gof8Fact pg 102 lets Sec of Homeland Security waive employment and education requirements for illegals
— David Vitter (@DavidVitter) May 2, 2013