Thursday, June 27, 2013

OK, IMMIGRATION REFORM PASSED THE SENATE. NOW PLEASE DON'T GO INTO DENIAL ABOUT OUR POLITICAL SYSTEM'S DYSFUNCTION.

Well, great: the Senate voted for comprehensive immigration reform. Now it's on to the House, where the plan is to throw out the Senate bill, presumably cook up a bill so hard-assed it doesn't count as reform at all, and maybe not even pass that. So forgive me if I'm not breaking out the champagne.

Yeah, on one issue Republicans -- by which I mean some Republicans in one House of Congress (and a minority of those Republicans at that) -- are sufficiently concerned about their party's extremism that they're willing to see reason. But that's not going to prevent the Beltway from using this as yet another opportunity to slip into denial mode about the irreversible dysfunction of our political system, thanks to the GOP.

So we have this:
But senators see this year's immigration debate as a welcome return to some semblance of ordinary legislating.....

"It has been a step in the right direction with eight senators putting the bill forward. The committee markup was robust," said Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La....

Landrieu said that final passage of the immigration bill shows that major legislation can indeed sprout through the muck of partisan squabbles. "I'm trying to be one of those green shoots," she said a few hours before the Senate's vote.

... basic cordiality among senators was on display throughout the process. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who voted against the bill, congratulated Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., on the Senate floor for the fair and transparent way he shepherded the bill through his committee.
Stop. Just stop. This is not "a welcome return to" anything, if by "welcome return" you mean "Thank God we're back to normal." This is an anomalous situation -- one issue, and as far as I know the only issue, on which some Republicans think there are ideas worth considering (if only to preserve their political survival) that would never be heard on Fox News. After this, it's back to business as usual. And any idiot insider who tells you otherwise -- and a lot of them will -- is delusional.

Can we all get along? No, we can't. Not until the Fox-ification of the GOP is a distant memory.

7 comments:

BH said...

Kindly note, as well, that the aforementioned Cornyn (for all his temporary feigned "civility") voted against the bill. Still tossing red meat to our regnant crackerdom, notwithstanding some make-nice manners for the benefit of the media.

Chris Andersen said...

And let us not forget that more than a few of those Republican Senators voting for this bill did so with the understanding that it would die in the House. That way they get to brag that they tried to pass immigration reform without actually having to worry that it might actually pass.

Want to lay bets how hard they try to lobby their Congressional colleagues to see reason?

24AheadDotCom said...

Isn't what this site refers to as "sufficiently concerned about their party's extremism that they're willing to see reason" actually an example of crooked pols being paid off to support very bad policy designed to lower wages? That's what I say, and for confirmation of that just ask the USChamber.

Victor said...

As @Chris said, the Republicans in the Senate, for political purposes, just passed this immigration bill onto the serial killers in the House.

The whole party knows that it's base doesn't want to show any leniency to immigrants - at least not ones who aren't white Europeans (and even then - YUCK!!! - but at least they're white).

It's all been Kabuki Theatre up until now.
And now it's time for the inevitable ending - the House Republicans will take out their sharp blades, and kill this bill.

They'll eviscerate any positive things, then lard the bill up with pork, and add amendments that will be impossible for any Democrat to support.

And when the Democrats pull back their support, the Republican Party will pounce! - and blame the Democrats for the bill not passing.

Why is it that, despite having seen this over and over again in the last few years, I still don't have any confidence that the Democrats will be able to effectively counter those accusations?

Hmm...
I wonder why that is?

OY!!!



Philo Vaihinger said...

What's your problem, again?

The House may end up stopping this and it's the House that's by far the more democratic and majoritarian part of the congress.

The senate, on the other hand . . . .

Kathy said...

Victor, there's a silver lining here. If House Republicans kill the bill, even with sleight of hand, it's unlikely Latino citizens will be fooled. The proliferation of punitive state bills has awakened a giant, and that giant is paying attention.

Kathy said...

Philo, assuming you're not just here to troll, the House of Representatives is captive to a vocal minority within the Republican Party that makes it impossible to pass bills the majority of American citizens support. I personally have not been represented in the House since January 1993, when Spencer Bachus went to Washington to do the bidding of big banks and investment companies. Now he thinks he has to pretend to be a Teabagger to head off challenges from the right, but the truth is he has so much cash in his campaign chest that he can stay in office till he drops dead or decides to spend more time with his family. BTW, he ran the first time on a promise to serve only two terms.

Let's not pretend the House is democratic.