Senate passes immigration bill
There is a fair amount of evidence that the GOP is undermining their own chances in the 2016 election.
For example, House Republicans are ignoring the party-sanctioned 2012 election post-mortem that recommended they embrace "comprehensive immigration reform" or suffer crippling losses among Hispanic voters in 2016 and beyond.
“The most immediate [debate] centers on the only major policy recommendation from a party-commissioned report written after Romney's defeat," reports a Fox News affiliate. "Citing dismal showings among the fast-growing Hispanic electorate, the report said Republicans 'must embrace and champion comprehensive immigration reform. If we do not, our party's appeal will continue to shrink to its core constituencies only.'" {1}
However, the self-inflicted wounds go far beyond just immigration issues. The destructive elements of the GOP continue to reject warnings from establishment Republicans. Many on the extreme right fringe cling to the old messages while saying the party simply needs to articulate its conservative principles more skillfully. With stubbornness quite obvious in the Republican dominated House, they adhere to the old policies without modification, even after losing the popular vote in five of the past six presidential elections.
As if blinded by their own passion and despite Romney's poor showing among female voters, House Republicans prolonged their "war against women" by passing the most restrictive abortion measure in years. A significant number of Republicans blame their past presidential election problems on “tone and perceptions,” not their stands on issues, or their inflammatory statements like pregnancies don't result from "legitimate rape."
Not having learned from the downgrading debacle of the US bond rating and in the midst growing corporate fears about the economic damage that would result from another scare over the default on U.S. obligations, hard-line GOP lawmakers are once again threatening to block an increase in the government's borrowing limit later this year to gain leverage over President Barack Obama. Another example of the GOP putting politics before the economic good of the country!
{1} http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politi … -for-2016/
This claim and the amendment of Senator Ted Cruz span both ObamaCare and the now pending Immigration reform bill which is not in any way an amnesty bill as it is characterized by Ms. Neal.
Under the ACA, employers, who offer insurance plans to their workers that are deemed either too pricey or too skimpy, will be fined $3,000 for each full-time worker who takes advantage of ObamaCare's subsidies to buy adequate and reasonably priced coverage. When you force some or all of your full-time employees to need ObamaCare subsidies, you will pay a fine. {1} In real after-tax dollars, this is the equivalent of $5000 because the fine is not deductible as an expense on either federal and state tax returns.
Matters get complicated because immigrants legalized under the reform bill just passed in the Senate will not be eligible for ObamaCare subsidies for a decade or more. Therefore, employers could avoid an ObamaCare fine for years to come for each legalized immigrant on their payroll.
It is easy to imagine an employer, faced with a choice between either hiring, or keeping, a full time US citizen or a legalized immigrant, might be tempted by these conflicting government incentives to tilt against the US citizen.
What is really a fine for not offering qualifying healthcare insurance is being characterized as a “fine” for hiring a US citizen.
Senator Cruz’s real motive is to obstruct the implementation of ObamaCare, destroy the momentum gathered by the Gang of Eight Reform Bill, or both! This is why he is asked for unanimous consent to introduce an amendment that would fix this issue by defunding Obamacare until there are no more individuals with RPI status.
A more logical and politically plausible fix would have ObamaCare’s employer fines reduced and/or extended to cover legalized immigrants without qualifying health coverage. The GOP has already signaled it will not fine tune ObamaCare but prefers to repeal it before it has a chance to demonstrate its potential benefits for America’s healthcare system.
{1} http://news.investors.com/politics-andr … tional.htm
Good evening, Ms. Neal.
I agree on all counts. Thank you for adding a link to the actual article.
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