Speaker Boehner's Hypocritical Lip Service on Immigration Blasted
The Republican leader…ignored the popular, bipartisan reform bill approved by the Senate and endorsed by business leaders, unions, the faith community, law enforcement, and reform advocates, and he then ignored his own stated commitment. The GOP-led House never even held so much as a hearing about a reform bill.
On the contrary, the only action Boehner was willing to take on immigration was threatening to cut off funding for the Department of Homeland Security…
…[immigration] isone [policy] the Speaker intends to do nothing about.
…House Speaker John A. Boehner found himself in Ireland, where somehow he left the mistaken impression that he intends to legislate a solution to the United States' broken-down immigration system.
Within days, the speaker's office was forced to walk back his comments…The GOP's inertia, said a spokesman for Mr.?Boehner, is all the fault of President Obama, who simply can't be trusted to enforce any law Congress might pass…That would be a more convincing excuse if Mr.?Boehner himself believed it, which he clearly doesn't.
Just 15 months ago…the speaker forthrightly blamed his fellow GOP lawmakers for quailing at his entreaties that they take up an immigration bill.
"Here's the attitude," he said, scrunching his face like a squalling toddler to make plain his contempt for the Republican excuses. "‘Ohhhh, don't make me do this. Ohhhh, this is too hard.'"
…for a year Mr. Boehner sat on an immigration bill that Mr. Obama would have been pleased to enforce
…but in the face of opposition from conservative Republicans, he never permitted a vote.
It's been over two years since comprehensive immigration reform overwhelmingly passed the U.S. Senate. It will be nearly three years since Speaker Boehner swore to tackle this critical issue. And this week when replying to a reporter question about whether or not Republicans will take immigration action this year, the Speaker apathetically responded: "I would hope so."
Bottom line: If Speaker Boehner really wanted to get comprehensive immigration reform done, he wouldn't let anti-immigrant Spokesman Rep. Steve King and the extremist fringe of his Conference drive the agenda demonizing Latino and immigrant families. He would join Democrats who continue calling and fighting for a fix to our nation's broken immigration system. Until then, as the Washington Post Editorial best said: "don't believe" Speaker Boehner and his "phony" excuses. [7/11]