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Add Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to the list of Republican lawmakers ready to embrace comprehensive immigration reform. The Kentucky Republican is set to explain his vision in a speech this morning.
On the heels of the Republican National Committee's post-election autopsy report, which encouraged Republicans to support broad immigration law changes, Paul is expected to say that party members need to embrace reform or deal with being out of political power for decades.
"Republicans need to become parents of a new future with Latino voters or we will need to resign ourselves to permanent minority status," Paul said according to excerpts from the speech. "The Republican Party has insisted for years that we stand for freedom and family values. I am most proud of my party when it stands for both."
Paul is also expected to call for providing a path to citizenship, which he also called for after the election. However, excerpts obtained by CQ Roll Call did not include any direct endorsement.
At this point, the details of Paul's immigration policy are unclear, so we don't yet know how much his plan differs, it at all, from the bipartisan "Gang of Eight" Senate proposal, which is due to be formally unveiled next month. [Update: Paul's office now insists the senator does not support a pathway to citizenship, despite earlier reports that it would now be part of his position.]
But the fact that Paul is making the policy pronouncement at all tells us a couple of things. First, it now seems clear that comprehensive immigration reform has a filibuster-proof majority in the upper chamber. In addition to the 55 members of the Senate Democratic caucus, there are four Republicans participating in the bipartisan framework (McCain, Graham, Rubio, and Flake), and now Paul is on board with the general idea. It's likely less-conservative senators like Collins and Kirk would sign on, too, suggesting breaking a Republican filibuster should be fairly easy.
Second, comprehensive immigration reform appears to be picking up some political momentum. The Republican National Committee, which generally shies away from policy guidance, endorsed the idea yesterday; Jeb Bush was forced to backpedal after initially rejecting comprehensive reform two weeks ago; Republican pollsters spent some time at CPAC explaining why the party doesn't really have any choice; the bipartisan Senate plan is nearly done and the bipartisan House plan should be hot on its heels.
On a conceptual level, comprehensive reform has even been endorsed by Sean Hannity, Rupert Murdoch, and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).
This matters to the extent that House Republicans are clearly skeptical about provisions like a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants already in the United States, but the prevailing winds may make opposition an untenable option.
If a bipartisan Senate bill passes the Senate with a sizable majority; the public supports the idea; President Obama is pushing for success; Fox News is on board; and Republican pollsters are pleading with the House GOP to do the right thing; it's going to be quite difficult for the House majority to kill reform and walk away.
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OK, prepare for the RINO name calling with Mr. Paul!
Honestly, I don't think that will happen. The GOP Fringe will embrace Teh Crazy, regardless of principle, because ideology really isn't the point. It's all about blame, fear, ambition and condemnation... not policy.
That's why the TP picks extremists losers, and discards old school Republicans.
Rand Paul could say he's from Mars, and the TP would cheer. All the louder, too.
it's going to be quite difficult for the House majority to kill reform and walk away.
Not with their gerrymandered districts, it won't be. Further proof that Republicans need to be careful what they wish for, since their gerrymandered House "majority" means they will have the nutter tail wagging the "reasonable" dog for a long time.
I am so glad to see this happening
We are talking about people
I just hope the motivation isn't solely to get more votes
That was some good coffee that I just spewed on my desk.
Really, the nutjob took a sane pill last week. It's wearing off as I type.
D.C. - good one! (that deserves a double check)
Tony Reno - I have always been what I like to call Politically Bi-Polar (socially liberal and fiscally conservative). The media likes to group people into strict liberal or conservative ideologies to create friction and ratings which encourages some people to assume the same just because a person argues one side or the other. After discussing with many friends and family I suspect there are more of us out there than any party or media outlet really likes to admit.
Watch Out! We walk amongst you!
So, will Rand Paul now be primaried because he is no longer "pure"?
Sorry, but I've seen this movie before.
The Republicans will declare that they are in favor of "the concept" of immigration reform. But then they'll keep finding whatever the Democrats propose to be unacceptable. When the Democrats make concessions, the Republicans will move the goalposts and start yelling about "amnesty for lawbreakers". Then the Inside-the-Beltway media will blame "both sides for their intransigence" and criticize Pres. Obama for not "showing leadership".
Republicans will never support GENUINE immigration reform, because it will need a path to citizenship that most of the people already here can achieve. Otherwise, they will remain in the shadows. And it will require dramatically increasing the number of people from countries to our south who are granted immigrant visas because people will continue crossing illegally as long as there is a ten year wait for them to get a green card.
What this tells me is that Rand Paul is running for President and he is serious about winning. It also tells me that Paul sees real weakness in the Republican establishment--a bunch of old white guys who have outlived their time. He wants to be the face of a "young" Republican party.
Watch yon Rand Paul, he has a lean and hungry look.
"Republicans need to become parents of a new future with Latino voters."
Rand, you gave the game away with the word "Latino".
Immigration is about ALL people, even the European ones that Teh Donald spoke about at CPAC.
You are just another Republican, who cares about nothing, but votes.
Maybe he thinks he is serious Ron, but he also introduced a Personhood Bill that would end birth control pills yesterday. And I don't trust the guy one single bit, he like Rubio might bolt if they get pressure...
Dude, he thinks he is serious, and don't kid yourself, the Personhood Bill is needed to cement support from the evangelicals and Catholic bishops. Paul is dangerous. Can he win? I don't know. Romney ran the worst campaign in living memory and still came in only 3-4 points behind. He just needs to crawl up to 40% of the Latino votes to win.
The stunt he pulled last week with the filibuster sent a message to McConnell and the Republican senate leadership. He wants to use the Senate not just to obstruct Obama, but to obstruct with splash.
Yes Ron, he could win the nomination, but imagine a Personhood Bill author running against Hilary Clinton, the most populat woman in politics. Landslide...
I don't take anything as a given. Fortunately neither do Hillary and Bill.
At this point, the details of Paul's immigration policy are unclear, so we don't yet know how much his plan differs,
...Which will not stop him from saying that he has "addressed" the issue of immigration and his position is clear, so let's move on nothing to see here...
It's a double-down on the slight-of-hand politics of ambiguity.
I agree. What Republicans say and do are different. Rand Paul may be saying he favors citizenship but will take it back later when is off camera and with the base. But like Romney, Paul will get caught and the hypocrisy exposed.
Anyone else think that Paul is lining himself up for a Presidential run in 2016?
That said, if immigration reform gets passed on a Democratic President's watch, with his vocal support, it most likely will be remembered as an "Obama (and Democratic) victory" which should help in the short run with elections. Latinos will be motivated to vote D and disaffected conservatives might well sit out the mid-terms - or at the least continue the GOP civil war.
You, me, and Ron Byers up-thread, apparently.
So Paul Rand is a Libertarian and that is someone who advocates maximizing individual rights and minimizing the role of the state. A person who believes in free will. However that does not apply to women's reproductive rights, as Paul Rand supports person-hood bills. He is a typical Republican elected official - small government when it comes to the EPA, Department of Education, and Safety Net Programs, but want to legislate religious beliefs, morality/sin, and women's reproductive rights.
Now another crazy man has become the dahling of the republican party. Why? Because he used a filibuster the way it should be used? Listening to some of the cable and news networks you would think he should be nominated for CNN hero of the year. Is he the new spokesman for the party? Is he the one who decides where they go on immigration? Will latinos realize it's a facade, just window dressing he and a few others are seemingly offering? I do'nt think the latino community is as dumb as the party of stupid think they are. Can a leopard change his spots? I do'nt think so.
The Repugs will put a stink-bomb in the bill that won't fly, and they'll blame the Dems. It's not governing, it's Roller Derby.
Because Senate Republicans never filibuster their own bills?
color me surprised that he would do this. It feels like he's being reigned in by the GOP
Why do I suspect "comprehensive immigration reform" doesn't have the same meaning for Republicans that it does for the rest of us (much in the same way that the GOP has an alternative definition of the word "compromise").
"...it's going to be quite difficult for the House majority to kill reform and walk away."
Are you sure about this? Seems to me they walk away from sanity every chance they get.
Rand Paul is better than an enema.................everytime he talks.............crap comes out
Just a matter of getting the right medication and staying with it so Rand Paul, can be let out the Senates Alzheimer's Ward.
Rand Paul 2016.
Both wing tips hate him, so that means America will like him if he gets a fair shake in the media.
HAS THE TEA PARTY BEEN BETRAYED BY THEIR FAVORITES
By now we all know that President Obama is going to stretch his executive privilege to pass some form of Comprehensive Immigration Reform, because he wants the votes from the majority of the new Socialist Democrats? Although why even bother with elections when unknown numbers of non citizens voted, perhaps twice or more in different communities?
None of the gang of eight Senators or those complying with the same decisions, seem that very little thought has been attributed to the millions of Americans who either are searching for a job, working in a part time environment or just depressingly have just refrained from looking? All that seems to be publicized is the corporate people who demand the highly skilled visa applications be given priority, which should be advanced to some degree? Or the agricultural people that is yelling about the need for more discount farm workers, but not necessarily wants to pay standard wages, and certainly not going to cover medical care or any other benefit; that’s left to the gullible American taxpayer, who carries the load for not only the Guest workers, but a large majority of illegal aliens. It looks pretty clear that in the coming months some tenuous form of comprehensive immigration reform will find passage through Congress. If the American people cannot put the brakes on it, then all the Senators and House Republicans must enact a mandatory E-Verify system, which coupled with the IMAGE program, will locate in every businesses illegal workers. And further to a nationwide E-Verify law being passed, it must cover all labor; NOT JUST NEW HIRES? THIS BILL MUST BE AT THE FOREFRONT, AS WITHOUT IT THE NEW WAVES OF ILLEGAL ALIENS WILL BE STEALING JOBS AGAIN AND WE IT WILL BE A VICIOUS CYCLE BEGINNING ALL OVER AGAIN? Whether or not it’s a partner to the Save Act or better known as the LEGAL WORKFORCE BILL, it must be brought for a vote.
We should thank our lucky stars today that we have the unbiased relief of the Internet, or the American public would certainly not be aware of debates in Congress. If for one minute you are going to get the whole truth from the Liberal media, that’s a joke in itself? These special interest groups have never mentioned that over a million more migrants and immigrant nuclear families arrive here annually, many sponsored by citizens? After sponsorship the sponsors intentionally fail to live up to the responsibility of financially supporting a mother or Father, which the taxpayer becomes obligated to see for their needs. It is the same with the craftily fabricated 14th Amendment, the smuggling of young children or babies, whether by airline or across the borders of Mexico and Canada. It all boils down to thousands of pregnant Mothers seeing a chance to gain citizenship for that child/children, that once domiciled here there is unlikely to be a deportation order? The whole burden then falls on the taxpayer to support the mother, who then cohabits with an illegal husband or boyfriend and starts the relentless conveyor belt of newborns. Thus the family financial pot fills up with direct assistance from the state general funds, to feed, house and attribute free emergency care. It a nice set up that has worked for years that qualifies the citizen child/progeny free payments of cash, compliments of the taxpayer. This is the solid reason why the Birthright citizenship law, must be changed that only parents who are citizens can confer on their offspring the right to citizenship.
Hardly any of us would now about the secret closed door negotiations of the gang of eight, until it’s too late. Even the TEA PARTY favorites Marco Rubio and Rand Paul seems to accepted some form of Pathway to Citizenship, without thinking of the imminent flood of people who will also be expecting to be included in this blanket amnesty or whatever..? They however, have furnished detail that the border barriers must be secure, but does that mean revising the design of prior President Bush 2006 SECURE FENCE ACT. IS THE TWO OR THREE FENCES PARALLEL TO EACH OTHER GOING TO STRETCH FROM THE GULF OF MEXICO TO SAN DIEGO? IS IT GOING TO BE SIMILAR IN CONSTRUCTION TO THE 15 MILE SAN DIEGO DOUBLE LAYER FENCE, AS SEEN IN CALIFORNIA. OR IS THIS JUST A DOWNRIGHT LIE WE ARE GOING TO BE FED? FENCE OR NOT, WITHOUT INTERNAL ENFORCEMENT AS MANDATORY E-VERIFY, OR A NATION ID CARD, TO REPLACE THE AGING SOCIAL SECURITY CARD NUMBER IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM THAT HAS SURELY BEEN COMPROMISED, THAT ALL PHYSICAL BARRIERS ARE A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY.
Publicized on the first page of the pro-sovereignty organization NumbersUSA is a letter to The Honorable Patrick J. Leahy, Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate:
Read the whole letter and judge for yourself?
A group of six GOP Senators that sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Committee Chairman Pat Leahy on Tuesday urging him to hold more committee hearings before marking up the Gang of Eight's legislation when it's introduced. The letter was signed by Ranking Member Chuck Grassley and Senators Jeff Sessions, Mike Lee, John Cornyn, Orrin Hatch, and Ted Cruz. In the letter, the Senators point out that America's immigration system hasn't been reformed in 30 years, and before the amnesty bill was passed in 1986, it was preceded by 100 hours of hearings with 300 witnesses before a markup. The letter also points out that the Senate Judiciary Committee has only held one immigration hearing this Congress, and there hasn't been an oversight hearing for the Department of Homeland Security since April 2012. The Senators also note that there are 43 new Senators since the last time a comprehensive immigration reform bill was brought before the Congress.
I think by now that hopefully these supposedly servants of the people in Washington, should get it in there thick skulls that 11 to 25 million or more illegal aliens should not get any Path to Citizenship or anything else, specifically when hard working taxpayers are their beneficiaries. Just the processing of this many people will be an added expense to the near 17 Trillion dollars we own nations as China. How can we keep on adding more people to the welfare line, when millions of citizens and legal residents are waiting patiently at food banks or lining-up with foreign nationals for food stamps? We cannot give any ground of any kind is to fight back by calling your politician at the Central Washington phone number at (202) 224-312. . LEARN THE ACTUALITY OF OUR BORDERS AND EXAMINE THE HIDDEN NEWS AND REPORTS AT AMERICANPATROL. ALSO SIGN THE PETITION AT THE NUMBERSUSA site to show your disdain. (Hundreds of thousands of irate citizens and legal residents, have already signed the petition already) Confront your Senator or Congressional House with post cards, demanding they stop the current path of overpopulation and Balkanization and taxing Americans to support foreigners. Flood Facebook and Twitter with intelligence, as the other side do. Contact your local press and TV station, because the end is near for commonsense and also another hit on the hurting taxpayer. However the best avenue to get results is to directly phone your person in Congress via the aide and leave your dispute against illegal immigration, a demand for the real wall, e-verify, repealing illegal aliens children gaining citizenship and of major importance a nation ID card for every citizen and legal resident.