GOOD WORK YESTERDAY, FRIENDS.
1.
You made the phone calls into the House of Representatives yesterday to
let them know you knew about the surprise amendment to pass a test
amnesty. I think you caught them off guard. In the end, the amendment
was pulled from consideration!
Thanks
to all of you who turned your attention from the Senate for a few
moments and made those calls into the House. (More about this below.)
2.
Under pressure from your tens of thousands of phone calls (and many
more faxes), 43 Senators yesterday cast a clear vote for full border
security before any work permits and other legalization for illegal
aliens.
Key
importance here is that only 57 Senators voted in favor of the bill's
current format of amnesty-first. Only 57? That's way too many but it
is three short of the 60 that will be needed to stop a filibuster on a
final vote on the S. 744 amnesty bill. This is a first glimpse of the
possibility of defeating this bill in a couple of weeks. (More about
this below.)
 Send New Faxes |
|---|
We have placed a lot of specialized fax and other action opportunities on your Action Boards.
One
of the special powers of NumbersUSA grassroots activism has always been
that you not only urge particular votes but you immediately comment
after politicians vote. It keeps them on their toes because it shows
that citizens are watching, that they remember and that there can be
consequences for how one votes.
Nearly
all of you will find one or more new actions. If you don't, look
further down in this email for some things you may want to do.
|
NON-GANG REPUBLICANS NEARLY UNANIMOUS IN SUPPORT FOR BORDER-SECURITY-FIRST AMENDMENT
Don't
read too much into this vote, but it was a very good sign that 41 of
the 46 Republicans voted against the pro-amnesty side on the amendment
by Sen. Grassley (R-Iowa) that would have required certification that
the border is fully secured for six months before any of the 11 million
illegal aliens would be eligible to receive legal status and work
permits.
41 is a magic number. On a final filibuster vote on a bill, 41 NO votes kills the entire bill.
The
Gang's S. 744 bill doesn't require any border security before giving
legal status and work permits. And its promises of border efforts over
the next 10 years are full of loopholes and waivers.
The Gang of Eight insisted on "tabling" Grassley's amendment so it couldn't even be debated or directly voted on.
I
don't know what could be clearer to Senators on the fence that there is
no pretending that this bill is serious about border security,
especially when the pro-amnesty folks said requiring border security
first might mean that illegal aliens never get their amnesty.
"This
is a very provocative act," Grassley said in decrying the ending of a
promised open amendment process on the very first day of amendments. The
Democratic leadership's move on this definitely inspired some strong
partisan bickering.
Tabling
is generally a maneuver to kill something without a politician having
to be blamed for it. I hope you won't hesitate to assign blame, though.
All Republicans voted against tabling/killing, EXCEPT these "border-security-last Senators":
Sen. Murkowski (Alaska) 888-995-2057
Sen. Rubio (Fla.) -- 888-995-5431
Sen. Flake (Ariz.) 888-978-3094
Sen. McCain (Ariz.) 888-978-3094
Sen. Graham (S.C.) 888-978-3094
Adding two more votes against tabling and for border security were Democrats:
Sen. Manchin (W.Va.)
Sen. Pryor (Ark.)
JUST DINING WITH A GANG MEMBER, or cooking up mischief?
A
bit disconcerting later in the day was seeing two of the Republican
Senators who voted for border-security-first sharing a booth and dinner
at a Hill restaurant with Gang member Sen. Graham. They weren't
chit-chatting but engaged in spirited conversation about immigration.
Sen. Chambliss (Ga.) 888-995-1975
Sen. Coburn (Okla.) 8889951952
There
have been too many rumors about the two of them working on some magic
border security amendment that might give a number of Republicans cover
to vote for the amnesty without actually slowing down the legalization
of the illegal aliens.
LOTS OF DEMOCRATS WHO CLAIM TO BE BIG ENFORCEMENT-FIRST SUPPORTERS VOTED TO KILL BORDER-SECURITY-FIRST AMENDMENT
All Democrats voted to table (kill) border-security-first, except Sen. Manchin (W.Va.) and Sen. Pryor (Ark.).
All
kinds of Democrats have repeatedly state that border security is a
priority with them -- especially those in states that voted Republican
last year. But most of them ended up voting to table the amendment.
Because
there were sharp partisan words in the bickering over whether this
amendment would need just 51 votes to pass -- as is customary -- or if
it would be treated like a final vote and need 60, we are hopeful that
several of the following list of Democrats were more sticking with their
Party on a procedural vote than tipping their hand that they will vote
for this amnesty on the final roll call.
But
part of the argument that Democratic leaders were making against the
Grassley amendment was that if it passed the illegal aliens might never
get their amnesty -- which pretty much makes the point that nobody
expects the bill's provisions to secure the border.
Democrats who say they are big on border security but voted against really having it:
Sen. Baucus (Mont.) 888-995-2041
Sen. Begich (Alaska) 888-995-2055
Sen. Donnelly (Ind.) 888-995-2034
Sen. Hagan (N.C.) 888-995-1994
Sen. Heitkamp (N.D.) 888-995-2048
Sen. Landrieu (La.) 888-995-2026
Sen. McCaskill (Mo.) 888-995-2019
Sen. Stabenow (Mich.) 888-978-3092
Sen. Tester (Mont.) 888-995-2045
All
are Democrats who have NOT committed to vote YES on the final bill and
are thought to be swing votes. At least some of these will be essential
for killing the overall bill to make up for any Republicans who were
among the 41 on Thursday but who switch to YES on final vote.
PUTTING OFF THE HOUSE AMNESTY BATTLE TO ANOTHER DAY
House
Speaker Boehner (R-Ohio) has been warming the hearts of the President
and quite a number of other global-labor champions by saying this week
that he is intent on putting an immigration bill on the President's desk
this year.
Since
it is assumed that no House-passed bill could get through the Senate
unless it contains an amnesty, everybody is watching to see just what
kind of amnesty Boehner and other House Republican leaders decide to
pitch.
We
felt the surprise amendment to give an amnesty to all illegal aliens
who enlist in the millitary was mainly an effort to gauge support among
Republicans for larger amnesties and to get them comfortable doing so.
It
was fantastic to see so many of you respond immediately to my plea for
phone calls yesterday morning. At the same time, our Capitol Hill Team
notified Representatives that we would grade the amendment on the
defense authorization bill as an amnesty vote.
I think many Representatives were quite surprised to have you telling them about something they may not have learned about yet.
A combination of circumstances led to the amendment being pulled before it could be voted on.
We will be vigilant and inform you as soon as we learn of the next attempt in the House.
|
Dear Patriot, 
The construction of 700 miles of border fence is already the law...
it's been the law since 2006 but our government has only built 36 miles
of that fence.
