Harry Reid: We'll Attach Senate Amnesty Bill to House Border Bill

Harry Reid: We'll Attach Senate Amnesty Bill to House Border Bill

on Tue, 29 Jul 2014

On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said he wanted to attach the Senate's comprehensive amnesty bill to the House border bill and potentially have a conference on legislation that had all but been declared dead.

"Well, if they pass that, maybe it's an opening for us to have a conference on our comprehensive immigration reform bill. They're finally sending us something on immigration; maybe we could do that," Reid said, according to TalkingPointsMemo. "We've been looking for something to do conference on."

The House's $659 million border bill does not have any language that would prevent President Barack Obama from enacting or spending federal money on executive actions to grant millions of illegal immigrant adults temporary amnesty and work permits. Numerous reports have indicated that the White House is set on enacting executive actions once Congress leaves for its August recess.

Earlier in the day, "a senior Democratic aide" toldPolitico that the "only way any piece of the House proposal could become law is if it was conferenced with the Senate’s comprehensive immigration reform bill, which is something we’d certainly consider."

As Breitbart News reported, "Gang of Eight Republicans Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL), John McCain (R-AZ), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) recently issued a joint statement saying they did not want this to happen," but pro-amnesty advocates, including Frank Sharry, have been pushing Democrats to attach the Senate's amnesty bill to the House's border bill. Those opposed to the Senate's amnesty bill have been worried for two years that leaders from two chambers would, through subterfuge, find a way to somehow get to conference in order to pass comprehensive amnesty legislation.

On Monday, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), who has been vigilantly fighting the Senate's amnesty bill because it would lower the wages of American workers of all backgrounds, said the country was entering a "perilous hour" and urged his colleagues in Congress to oppose any bill that "does not expressly prohibit these planned executive actions by the President and that prohibits any expenditure of funds to implement them."

"Our response now is of great import," Sessions said, saying all of his colleagues will face a time for choosing this week. "It will define the scope of executive and congressional powers for years to come. If President Obama is not stopped in this action, and he exceeds his powers by attempting to execute such a massive amnesty contrary to law, the moral authority for any immigration henceforth will be eviscerated."

As Breitbart News reported, Sessions said there is "no middle ground" when it comes to Obama's lawlessness and declared that Americans "will not accept nullification of their laws passed by their elected representatives."

Reid's comments came on what was probably House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's last conference meeting as Majority Leader. After Cantor lost his July primary to Dave Brat because of Cantor's support for amnesty, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) told Obama that the House would not take up an immigration bill this year.