Speaker Ryan Strategy: Shift Blame to President Rather Than Upset Far-Right, Anti-Immigrant Wing of GOP
Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart: Why Speaker Ryan can't be ‘trusted' on Obama and immigration
When it comes to comprehensive immigration reform, everything old is new again. All the obstruction and careless rhetoric about not trusting the president flung around by former House speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) was picked up by new Speaker Paul Ryan. And just because the Wisconsin congressman says it with such conviction doesn't make what he says true.
...So, let's be clear here. The [immigration] bill hasn't gone anywhere because House Republicans simply refuse to "advance comprehensive immigration legislation" gathering dust in their own cloakroom.
This isn't about trusting the president, Speaker Ryan. This is about Republican leadership that can't be trusted to do anything to start fixing the problem.
MSNBC's Steve Benen: Ryan removes all doubt, says immigration reform is dead
…Voters concerned about immigration will ask why the GOP killed bipartisan reform measures – before and after the administration's executive actions – and Republicans will desperately try to blame the president.
For anyone who cares at all about reality, their attempts to pass the buck are impossible to take seriously.
Star Tribune Editorial (Minnesota): Speaker Ryan plays politics with immigration reform
Making his first rounds of Sunday talk shows over the weekend, newly anointed U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan dropped this little bombshell: There will be no movement on immigration in the coming year because he finds President Obama "untrustworthy" on the issue.
This stands in stark contrast to Ryan's statements just five days ago, when he said, upon assuming his new role, that Republicans and Democrats should "pray for a deeper understanding" of one another and work together as representatives of the American people rather than as partisans.
Apparently that understanding and cooperation does not extend to the president of the United States.
Americans know that the new Speaker had already relinquished his gavel to his extremist GOP Members like anti-immigrant Spokesman Rep. Steve King, who's now unsurprisingly proposing another measure to deport DREAMers:
Steve King Wants To Deport The Undocumented Immigrants Who Protest Outside His Office
If Rep. Steve King (R-IA) has his way, undocumented immigrants could be deported for protesting in congressional buildings in Washington, D.C. His office is circulating a bill titled "Ending the Sanctuary Capitol Policy Act of 2015," which would authorize the Capitol Police to turn over undocumented immigrants protesting or rallying on Capitol Hill grounds for potential deportation proceedings…
While the Speaker blames President Obama for House Republicans' failure to act, the truth is that every Administration since GOP President Dwight D. Eisenhower – Republican and Democratic – has used executive authority to address how our immigration system meets the needs of our country. The American people weren't fooled by Speaker Boehner's excuses and they aren't going to buy it from Speaker Ryan either.