Boehner's Big Business Buddies Get Their CRap-Filled, CRiminal-Amnestying CRomnibus Bill

Here is a good analysis by Chris Chmielenski of NumbersUSA.com of the whys, whats, and wherefores that went into the passage of the CRap-filled CRiminal-Amnestying  CRomnibus Bill.  The GOP establishment's (Gang's) Enforcer, Speaker John Boehner, figuratively either threaten to break the knee caps of his party members who would not vote for this bill or maybe he just bribed them in order to pass his precious Amnesty to placate his big business buddies. Below, I highlighted a few of the main points of Chris' commentary on the CRomnibus surrender...

 

What is so sickening about this CRomnibus Bill is that it does nothing to oppose the Affordable Care Act, nor does it curtail spending. It essentially blesses the radical Mr. Obama's Progressive Agenda and the unprincipled Boehner's beloved status quo. It surrenders the only real strategic advantage (power of the purse) that the GOP had to this out-of-control would-be tyrant.  Now he has free reign to implement these two destructive measures. In addition the bill is laden with pork of all sorts. Power does corrupt, here is an excellent example. 

Yesterday's news reports confirmed what we heard all afternoon from NumbersUSA members -- anti-amnesty activists flooded the Capitol's phone lines, resulting in a switchboard meltdown late in the day.

But in the end, no level of activism could overcome the shady, backroom dealing that took place last night in the House of Representatives allowing a $1.1 trillion spending bill that fully funds Obama's amnesty to limp across the finish line with bipartisan support.

When the dust settled, 67 House Republicans bucked their Party Leaders and Big Business by opposing the bill. That's a little more than one-fourth of House Republicans who stood on the side of jobless Americans and wage-earners who have suffered from stagnant wages for more than a decade.

As for the 162 Republicans and 57 Democrats who chose Corporate America and illegal aliens over middle-class workers, NumbersUSA will treat their votes as a vote for amnesty as we had promised all week.

NumbersUSA President Roy Beck said, "NumbersUSA will soon go to our network of citizens requesting new actions to overturn the Obama amnesty in the next Congress. Despite the setback in the House this week, the massive citizen pressure has forced a lot of promises from this week's "yes" voters to battle the amnesty in another form in the new year. We must do all we can to shame these U.S. Representatives into keeping their anti-amnesty promises THIS time."

HOUSE SHENANIGANS

Yesterday's floor action started with a procedural vote that would establish the rules for debate of the CRomniubs spending bill. The House Rules Committee met the night before and decided to block all amendments, including one offered by Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) that would have defunded Obama's amnesty.

Votes on rules typically pass with little fanfare and along party-lines, but yesterday's vote kicked off a tense afternoon on the House floor. Seventeen Republicans were prepared to vote against the rule, and by the time allotted for the vote had expired, it appeared the rule was going to be defeated, killing the massive spending bill. But GOP Leadership was able to convince two Republicans -- lame-duck Rep. Kerry Bentivolio of Michigan and Rep. Marlin Stutzman of Indiana -- to change their votes, and the rule narrowly passed, 214-to-212.

Approval of the rule kicked off about two-hours of debate. Appropriators from both parties marched to the podium asking for passage of the bill, but the mood began to change when Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi delivered a passionate floor speech against the bill. Her reasons, obviously, had nothing to do with defunding Obama's amnesty, but it was becoming more clear that the bill's fate was in trouble with mass defections among House Republicans who wanted defunding language in the bill, and Pelosi's call to Democrats to vote 'NO'.

When the debate time expired, House Leaders were expected to proceed with final passage, but instead put the House in recess indefinitely. It became evident that they didn't have enough votes to pass the bill.

For the next 6 hours, reports detailed all sorts of back-room dealings. A few reports said that Rep. Stutzman had agreed to change his 'NO' vote on the rule in exchange for Leadership pulling the bill and replacing it with a short-term continuing resolution.

Meanwhile, on the Democratic side of the aisle, Pelosi urged her Members not to give in and lose their leverage in the House, while Pres. Obama, Vice Pres. Biden, and cabinet members urged Democrats to support the bill.

Around 9 p.m., we learned that House Leaders would finally hold a vote on the bill, and if it didn't pass, they'd replace it with a short-term continuing resolution. But Speaker Boehner, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and GOP Whip Steve Scalise were able to twist just enough arms and offer just enough future "promises" to garner enough GOP support for the bill. It passed with a 219-to-206 margin.

WHAT NOW?

The CRomnibus spending bill now moves to the Senate where it will likely have to clear several procedural hurdles and opposition from both sides of the aisle. Anti-amnesty champions, Senators Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Ted Cruz of Texas, and Mike Lee of Utah will continue to persuade Republicans to kill the bill or insist on a provision that defunds Obama's amnesty.

In the House, moments after the vote closed, Boehner sent the following Tweet:

[B]y the House's action, we are setting up a direct challenge to the president's unilateral actions on immigration next month, when there will be new Republican majorities in both chambers.

It's difficult to believe that the man who just worked so hard to keep Obama's amnesty funded will do anything significant to stop the action, but voters can continue to pressure Republicans and their Leadership to keep their promise to mid-term voters and do everything they can to defund the President's action.

As Roy mentioned, your tremendous show of activism these last two weeks sent a clear message to all legislators that they will be watched in the next Congress, and we will hold them to their promises to defund in 2015. Should the Senate pass the House bill, the fight begins again in just a few months when the short-term funding for the Department of Homeland Security expires.

I'd like to extend a sincere thanks to all the NumbersUSA activists who took action over the last month. During this busy holiday season, I know it's not easy to set aside a few minutes each day to call Congress and send faxes, but your efforts were tremendous. Since election day, we've tracked more than 150,000 phone calls to Congress and delivered hundreds of thousands of faxes on your behalf! You helped provide a voice for millions of struggling Americans who suffer the most from Pres. Obama's executive actions and Congress' inaction.

Thanks,

chris chmielenski

Fri, Dec 12th