Allahpundit
Hot Air
3/19/2013
Remember last week’s report that Lindsey Graham and the gang might try to pass the Senate bipartisan bill on immigration as soon as it’s ready, without committee hearings, amendments, or much time allotted on the floor for speeches? Per Graham himself, “You don’t want to leave it hanging out for two weeks to get shot up.” I wondered at the time if that story was being pushed in part to nudge opponents of the bill that the moment to start officially mobilizing against it has come. If so, it worked like a charm. Today, all but two of the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee signed a letter warning Pat Leahy and Reid to slow down…
…With so many tea-party stars lining up for immigration reform — Rubio most famously, of course, but Paul also suggested today he might support the Gang of Eight’s bill with amendments — the base may end up looking for a conservative champion in the Senate to rally grassroots opposition to the bill. The guy who delivered the keynote at CPAC and who’s become the Democrats’ public enemy number one in just two months in office is a natural choice, and he’s signaling here that he’s prepared to make a fuss if Graham and Schumer try to push this through too quickly.
With Cruz mobilizing the base and the odds of primary challenges rising, the odds that squishy Republicans would acquiesce in rubber-stamping it without hearings seems much less likely to me, no matter how eager they are to earn goodwill with Latinos by getting it done ASAP. There is a straddle they’ll have to perform here in passing the bill but not making conservatives too angry in the process. Rand Paul understands it, which is why he emphasized border security in his speech today while mentioning citizenship not at all…
Read the entire article at HotAir.com
Mark Levin hammers Boehner for plotting in secret on a bipartisan immigration plan that he’s now publicly praising. Levin says this is our damn country and we deserve to see this plan BEFORE it gets voted on, noting that he absolutely doesn’t trust Boehner anymore.
GOP’s Rand Paul, Dems’ Luis Gutierrez in step on immigration reform
Rand Paul: I didn’t back faster path to citizenship
…“I didn’t use the word citizenship at all this morning,” Paul said. ”Basically what I want to do is to expand the worker visa program, have border security and then as far as how people become citizens, there already is a process for how people become citizens. The main difference is I wouldn’t have people be forced to go home. You’d just get in line. But you get in the same line everyone is in.”…
Update: Boehner: ‘Pathway’ Closer in Immigration Plan
Update 2: Rand Paul Pushes Immigration Reform: ‘Trust But Verify’
Also, ICE Admits 200+ Serious Criminal Illegals Released
