You & Calendar may have killed 2013 Amnesty
Analysts this week suddenly stopped talking about the inevitability of amnesty this year. Your efforts are paying off!
While much of the media's focus during recess has been on the efforts of the pro-amnesty and open-borders groups, YOU have been quite active over the last five weeks standing up for American workers and the rule of law!
NumbersUSA activists attended more than 400 Congressional events across the country in August, telling their Members of Congress why they oppose amnesty. It's important for Members to hear from the constituents who live in their district since they're the ones they'll have to answer to when election day rolls around next year.
The groups that favor a blanket amnesty for illegal aliens and flooding the labor market with increased foreign workers that will drive down wages are claiming victory for August. But some of this week's news reports tell a different story. Headlines this week include "House GOP Puts Immigration on Back Burner" and "Rep. Luis Gutierrez frustrated over immigration's pace." If the pro-amnesty efforts were so successful in August, then one would think Congress would be clamoring to pass an amnesty bill, but it's not.
According to the Wall Street Journal:
House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) said in July he hoped the House would consider immigration bills before turning to negotiations on raising the nation's debt ceiling this fall. But as the House prepares to reconvene next week, GOP leaders have no plans to bring immigration bills to the floor, aides say.
An article from Politico this week even suggested that amnesty may get pushed off another four years!
The fall must-do list for Congress was already so crowded that House Republicans were spreading the word that there was unlikely to be time to finish an immigration package -- a handy, albeit probably accurate, excuse. Until a few weeks ago, Hill strategists in both parties had said they thought immigration had a chance in 2015. Now, the smart money is on 2017.
Furthermore, a poll released earlier this week asked voters if they think Congress will pass a bill similar to the Schumer-Obama amnesty bill, S.744, passed back in June, and only 28% of respondents said yes. That's down from 39% when the Senate passed the bill back in June.
However, the battle is far from over!
The pro-amnesty business groups are armed with tens of millions of dollars and are ready to do whatever it takes to keep the amnesty ball rolling this fall. They're planning 60 rallies for early October, including what's being billed as "a major demonstration" in Washington, D.C. on October 8. While the House calendar is packed this fall with Syria, budget battles, and the debt-ceiling limit, leaving little room for immigration, we still need a massive effort this fall to stave off the amnesty threat!
CHRIS CHMIELENSKI is the Director of Content & Activism for NumbersUSA