I wonder why?
(Washington Times) The immigration bill passed the Senate more than a month ago but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is refusing to send the bill to the House — just one of the hurdles that has sapped momentum and dimmed the chances for an immigration deal this year.
The White House on Monday held onto an optimistic outlook.
“I won’t deny that we would be perfectly happy for the House of Representatives to pass that bipartisan legislation today and have a signing ceremony at the end of the week. I don’t anticipate that’s going to happen,†deputy press secretary Josh Earnest said. “But I do think that there’s pretty strong momentum built up behind this piece of legislation.â€
Has anyone alerted Reid and Earnest that the House can’t vote on Bills they haven’t received? Well, legally and Constitutionally. I’m sure Democrats don’t care about that notion.
House GOP leadership offices said they haven’t spoken with Mr. Reid about the holdup, but some lawmakers say he is trying to avoid the embarrassment of a defeat.
Boehner said it wouldn’t get a vote. There’s also concern because it is potentially unconstitutional, since it raises revenue. But, consider, if Reid sent it over, Democrats and Obama could demagogue the GOP for refusing to give it an up or down vote (they’re kinda doing it anyway). So why refuse to send it to the House? Perhaps Reid is worried that it will get a vote that defeats the Bill, with many Democrats voting against it. Many House Dems are against the border provisions.
Seeking to rebuild support, the White House said Mr. Obama will use August, when Congress is out of town, to push for an immigration deal.
“I think that momentum is only building. And we’ll see how House Republicans respond to that pressure,†Mr. Earnest said.
Obama can’t demagogue, or at least as much, if the House had already voted on it. The least Republicans could do would be to make sure everyone knows that Reid refuses to send the Bill over to the House.
Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.
That is very interesting. Could he have lost his mental faculties and simply forgotten about it?
And, do they really need to send a bill over for the House to take up their version? I don’t know the administration of bills, but does the House have to have the Senate bill before they create one of their own – one that is then sent to committee to hash out with Senate negotiators?
Or, can the House put up their own version, that is then sent over to the committee to be hashed out with Senate negotiators?
And, Boehner may say that this bill may not get a vote, but he has already promised that a bill allowing amnesty will get a vote in the House before the end of the year.
And, yeah, what diff does law matter when the Senate creates a revenue-based bill? Laws mean nothing to these people. Laws mean nothing to Democrats and Socialists.