For Sen. Mike Lee, amending immigration bill starts with throwing it out

Byron York
The Washington Examiner
5/8/2013

Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. was the deadline for members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to propose amendments to the Gang of Eight comprehensive immigration reform bill.  There were a lot of amendments.  Sen. Charles Grassley, ranking Republican on the committee, proposed 77.  Fellow Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions, perhaps the leading opponent of the bill on the committee, proposed 49.  Sen. Orrin Hatch proposed 24.  Sen. Mike Lee proposed 23.  Altogether, Republicans proposed 194 amendments, while Democrats proposed 106, for a total of 300.

Reading all the amendments will take some time, but so far the most striking appear to come from Sen. Lee, who had once considered joining the group that became the Gang of Eight.  Each of Lee’s first three amendments would throw out the Gang’s bill completely and replace it with a relatively simple measure to cover key parts of the immigration issue.  Lee’s first amendment would be called the “Border Security Results Act of 2013.”  His second would be called the “Accountability Through Electronic Verification Act.”  The third would be called the “Immigration Innovation Act of 2013.”

Each amendment begins, referring to the original Gang of Eight bill, with these words: “Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the following…”  In a stroke, 867 pages of proposed legislation would be thrown out…

 

The article continues at The Washington Examiner.

 

Also by Byron York, Senate skips details in rush to pass immigration bill

 

Update: Democrats File Amendments That Acknowledge Same-Sex Marriage into Immigration Bill

…I have been saying that this ‘Gang of Ocho’ immigration reform bill would be dead in the water the minute the liberal faction in the U.S. Senate began to do President Obama’s bidding of mucking imposing their liberal views on the legislation.

Rubio had been warned that this would happen, and it has. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has filed two amendments that acknowledge same-sex marriage. Rubio recently said that that if his bill was amended with such a measure, he would not support the bill anymore.

This move by the Democrats gives Rubio that immigration reform life raft he needed…

 

Update 2: Rand Paul On Schumer-Rubio Immigration Plan: “To Me, It’s A Little Bit Like Obamacare” 

SEN. RAND PAUL: I am worried that the bill before us won’t pass. It may pass the Senate, may not pass the House. I want to be constructive in making the bill strong enough that conservatives, myself included, conservative Republicans in the House will vote for this because I think immigration reform is something we should do.

In this bill I am worried, though, and this is similar to what Senator [Ron] Johnson said, that it says, well, you have to have a plan to build a fence, but you don’t have to build a fence. And if you don’t have a plan to build a fence, then you get a commission. I don’t know what happens if the commission doesn’t do anything. That’s the story of Washington around here.

To me, it’s a little bit like Obamacare. And I hate to bring that up, but 1,800 references to the secretary shall at a later date decide things. We don’t write bills around here. We should write the bill. We should write the plan. We should do these things to secure the border whether it be fence, entry, exit, we should write it, not delegate it. What’s going to happen in five years if they don’t do their job — maybe not even them, maybe somebody else who doesn’t do their job in five years, and the border is not secured? We will be blamed for the next 10 million that come here illegally. (Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing, May 7, 2013)

Watch the video at the link.

 

 

Also, Ted Cruz Seeks to Ban Illegal Immigrants in U.S. from Citizenship  Cruz’s amendment would prevent 11 million currently here from earning legal status

 

Update 3Two-thirds of senators to vote on U.S.-Mexico border without having seen it

 

 

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