News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. June 28, 2013: Dear Mr. President,
On the afternoon of Thursday, June 27, 2013, I should have been happy; in fact, I should have been hysterically overjoyed and celebrating at the passage in the U.S. Senate of the much fought for and touted, immigration reform bill, by a vote of 68-32. Yea at letter number 33 and counting, we have passage of this longer overdue measure in the Senate. Instead, I do not know whether to laugh or cry.
That’s because minutes before the passage of S. 744, House Speaker John Boehner, told reporters, “The House is not going to take up and vote on whatever the Senate passes. We’re going to do our own bill, through regular order.”
Thanks a lot for nothing Boehner. Seems the addition of an immigrant to his family has done nothing to soften up the Republican Conservative who insisted that not only will any immigration reform legislation have to go through the entire committee process in the House, but whatever emerges will have to meet the “Hastert rule,” which says the majority of the party in control of the House must back a given measure for it to receive a vote by the full chamber.
Gone was the lawmaker who immediately after Republicans were dealt a whipping at the polls last November, changed his hard line tone against “amnesty” and said comprehensive reform – which includes a pathway to legalization for the undocumented – will be a priority in 2013.
“This issue has been around far too long,” Boehner said in an interview on November 9, 2012 with ABC News’ “World News.”
”A comprehensive approach is long overdue, and I’m confident that the president, myself, others can find the common ground to take care of this issue once and for all.”
But all that is behind now as Boehner continues to put his job security first and cave to the Tea Party congressional members against any reform, even though they have no solution to deal with the problem of 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the shadows.
The Senate has delivered a solution. If Boehner was a real leader, he’d put the measure to a House vote and let the chips fall where they might.
Now Mr. President it’s time to show real leadership just like Mr. Boehner challenged you to do last November.
Call John Boehner out on his flip-flopping and tell him to show “common sense” and remind him and Senator Ron Johnson, a Tea Party favorite, of what they said last year. That Republicans haven’t provided immigrant voters, especially Hispanics with “a home… in terms of some of our hostility toward the immigration issue.”
Tell Boehner now is the time to be on the right side of history for a change and show his words are not just wind but he meant what he said last November and what’s to come in other national elections if he and his Party does nothing.
Respectfully,
The writer is founder of NewsAmericasNow, CaribPR Wire and Hard Beat Communications.
