Day-Long Event Stirs Opposition to Comprehensive Amnesty Bill
A group of House and Senate Republicans held an extended press conference and rally on the East steps of the Capitol to rail against the comprehensive amnesty legislation under consideration in the Senate. They were joined by talk show host Glenn Beck and the Heritage Foundation’s Robert Rector, the author of the definitive long-term cost analysis on the Senate bill.
The event, which ran from 9 am to 5 pm, included Reps. Steve King (Iowa), Michele Bachmann (Minn.), Louie Gohmert (Tex.), Jim Jordan (Ohio), Rob Bishop (Utah), Ted Yoho (Fla), Lynn Westmoreland (Ga.), and Randy Weber (Tex.) as well as Sens. Ted Cruz (Tex.), Rand Paul (Ky.), and Mike Lee (Utah).
Rep. King told the crowd that the legislation making its way through the Senate is riddled with flaws and grants amnesty to millions of people. He said, “As this debate has accelerated, it’s moved along a lot faster than I’m comfortable with, there has been people that have come to conclusions that are not based on any empirical data or good judgment…The green flag has been dropped on immigration. That’s why we are here today to take this debate outside the halls of Congress. If it’s not going to be good enough inside we’ll take it outside under the First Amendment right.”
Rep. Bachmann energized the crowd with her remarks. “Let me tell about one thing that people talk about in my district and it’s this: We’re often lectured that we are not compassionate because we don’t believe in open borders,” Bachmann said. “We’re told that we’re not compassionate because we’re not willing to let the entire world come into the United States any time of their choosing. Now is that compassion?” she asked crowd. “No!” they shouted.
“Amnesty can cost us something more than just money. It can cost a nation because at the worst possible time in our nation’s economic history just when Baby Boomers are coming to the point that they are entitled to draw down on Social Security, they are entitled to draw down on Medicare, now when Obamacare in six months will be implemented in 2014, when there will be access to 80 different means-tested welfare programs. When you have all of that on the table, when your government every year is spending almost double what it takes in, and when we’re looking at demanding that much more of that Treasury, which is effectively bankrupt, we’re going to be bringing in tens of millions of new people?” “No!” the crowd shouted.
Surrounded by children, Bachmann explained how they would be robbed of their future if the amnesty bill passed into law. “That’s why Harry Reid will not succeed, despite what he says,” Bachmann said. “We’re here! We’re loud! We’re not going anywhere!”
Media reports suggested the crowd included people from across the nation. A participant from Iowa took a day off from work and flew to Washington for the event. She said immigration is being rushed through without “reasoned debate.” Rep. King and other lawmakers want “the American people to stand behind them,” she said. “We’re here to show them support.”
Another from North Carolina said, "(Rubio’s) being influenced by establishment Republicans and others like Lindsey Graham and John McCain. Marco Rubio is doing a deception here when he says, 'We're going to secure the border, don't worry about it.' Because it's in the bill that the illegal aliens get their reward, legal status first."
Early in the day, Capitol Hill police tried to block activists attending a simultaneous Tea Party Patriots’ "Audit the IRS" rally from also attending the immigration rally. Capitol Hill police told Kevin Mooneyhan, Deputy Executive Director of Tea Party Patriots, that "your people" only are permitted to assemble for the event on the west side of the Capitol. Mooneyhan told Breitbart News, "The Capitol police are violating our rights to assembly and association. How does our permit limit the rights of individuals to attend public events. It's intimidation." The Capitol Hill police eventually relented and allowed the activists to join the immigration rally.