This is one of those many instances when we realize how dangerous (and stupid) big government really is. If there is one thing we can almost always depend on, it is that any legislation that is passed by Congress and signed into law by the President will have unintended consequences. Many times, legislation is used for purposes for which it was not intended. Immigration reform meeting Obamacare fits that description nicely. It is also a good example of what happens when the people we vote into Congress fail or refuse to do their jobs. Would it be too much to ask them to read the legislation they are voting on?
Senator Ted Cruz has turned many heads since he first walked into the United States Senate. He may not be well liked by many of his colleagues, but he doesn’t seem to care about the “traditions” of the esteemed body to which he was voted. What he does care about is doing the business of the people who elected him to that office. As such, he actually took the time to read the immigration reform bill that passed out of the Senate on Thursday. He voted against it, along with 13 other Republicans. I just wish more of the GOP had the will and fortitude to stand against the rush to pass an immigration reform bill that is rotten to the core.
There are many things included in the immigration reform bill to dislike. At the top of my list is that it grants amnesty to the millions of illegal immigrants living within our borders, with little more than a slap on the wrist. The border provision included in the bill is a joke. I could go on, but many of my concerns deserve their own space, if I can find the time to write them. Let’s look today at how immigration reform, coupled with Obamacare, is very bad medicine for American citizens.
Freedom Outpost – We can’t possibly expect our Senators to read a 1200 page bill before voting on it. Can we? Well Thank God Ted Cruz read it. Not only did Cruz read it but he schooled anyone who would listen from the Senate floor on Tuesday. Cruz found a loophole that actually penalizes an employer $5000 for hiring a citizen over a legalized alien. Seriously. You can’t make this stuff up.
You may ask, to what am I referring. Is this a late amendment that has been inserted into the immigration reform bill? Actually, it is not. First, here is what Senator Ted Cruz had to say about his amendment to fix this glaring problem in the bill.
Human Events – “I filed an amendment that would have corrected one of the most egregious aspects of the Gang of Eight bill as it intersects with Obamacare legislation, namely a penalty imposed on U.S. employers for hiring U.S. citizens and U.S. permanent residents,” Cruz explained from the Senate floor. ”This bill says if an employer hires a citizen or a legal immigrant, the IRS can impose a $5,000 penalty on that employer. But if the employer instead hires someone with RPI [Registered Provisional Immigrant] status, that penalty will go away. That is utterly and completely indefensible.”
When we track down the story, we find it is not something that was inserted into the bill towards the end of the Senate debate.
Instead, we find that the problem has been known for several weeks, even months. Investor’s Business Daily first reported on this complication in April.
It has been established that more than one Senator involved in crafting the legislation knew about the issue then. That includes Marco Rubio, but he said the legislative process was designed to fix address such issues.
That’s what Ted Cruz was trying to do with his amendment, but it failed to gain enough votes to be included in the legislation.
This is what some people like to cal a technical problem. Technically, that’s correct. In reality, it is a loophole that has been created by two intersecting pieces of legislation.
One of those bills, Obamacare, was crammed down our throats, never minding our protests.
The second, an immigration reform bill that is nothing like what we need to deal with our illegal immigration problem, is out of the Senate and headed to the House of Representatives. At this point, I wouldn’t even wager a guess about how it will fare in that particular body of Congress.
What is clear is the absolute and total disaster that is headed our way, should the immigration reform bill be signed into law, as it now stands.
I fall back to what I wrote in the first paragraph.
Big government is both dangerous and stupid. Immigration reform is about to meet Obamacare and the law of unintended consequences is about to come down on the heads of the American people with full force.
Except, I’m not so sure the consequences are unintended. No matter, the results will be the same and the American taxpayer will bear the brunt of the cost. I am sure this is a far cry from how the Founding Fathers envisioned the future of the country they established. We should all be ashamed for disturbing their rest and making them roll over in their graves. It is a very poor way to run any country, especially America.
