Sen. Sessions: House Republicans Must Defend American Workers Against Amnesty, Expose Influence of Special Interest Groups
Breitbart reports that Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., is calling on House Republicans to put the interests of American workers ahead of lobbyists, political consultants and Democrats who want who want a comprehensive amnesty. He said the House was the last line of defense for Americans whose wages and livelihood would be put at risk.
Speaker John Boehner and other leaders are developing immigration principles that are reportedly similar to major provisions of the Senate-passed bill, which Sen. Sessions said would “devastate wages and working conditions for millions of struggling Americans to benefit a small cadre of lobbyists and CEOs." He also said the Senate plan "doubles the flow of immigrant workers, adds another 30 million new permanent residents to compete for every job, and guarantees illegal immigration will continue permanently in the future."
Sen. Sessions warned the House to not pass what amounts to a comprehensive amnesty through a piecemeal approach. "House Republican leaders must dismiss the whispers of the consultant class, the pleadings of the business lobby, and the pressure campaign from the activists who believe illegal immigration is a civil right," Sessions said. "It would be tragic if the Leader's immigration principles were simply a ‘piecemeal’ repackaging of the Senate plan."
Sen. Sessions said House Republicans would serve the national interest by "placing its first emphasis on helping millions of Americans transition from welfare and unemployment to work and rising wages….In so doing, the GOP will not only aid struggling workers from all backgrounds, but will recapture the trust and faith of millions of Americans who have turned away from the party."
"Such clear and convicted action would also expose the influence special interests groups have wielded over the White House and Senate Democrats from day one,” Sessions added. The House now stands alone as the last line of defense for millions of working Americans that form the backbone of the nation."
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., also weighed in recently on the question of whether House Republicans should move on immigration legislation in 2014. Appearing on Laura Ingraham’s radio show, Rubio said, “Well, first of all, there’s no doubt that the biggest issue we face is an economy that’s leaving people insecure about the future of the American dream that’s under duress, and that a majority of our time should be spent on that.”
Rubio said immigration was a legitimate issue to address, especially on the enforcement side, but Ingraham argued President Obama wouldn’t enforce immigration law. "Well that’s the fundamental problem,” Rubio said in response. “Here’s the fundamental problem with this issue that I think keeps it from moving forward: People say to you, and it’s hard to argue against it at this point given what’s happened over the last year, what they say is it doesn’t matter what the law says, this administration won’t enforce it; they’ve proven it time and again on Obamacare. You can write one thing in the law they’ll ignore. How do you argue against that? Even people who would like to do something on this are finding it difficult to argue against that.”
Ingraham asked Rubio if House Republicans should move forward on immigration before Obama is out of the White House. Rubio said that he questions whether they should. “Well that’s the fundamental question,” he said. “The bottom line is you just have a tremendous amount of mistrust that no matter what you write into law, this administration will ignore it and enforce the parts they like and ignore the parts they don’t. And that has set this whole effort back in a way that may be insurmountable. But I do think that there are small-scale things that can be done on the non-controversial parts to build momentum and create the space for, at some point down the road, being able to finish….”
See more in Breitbart.