Republicans Flood Immigration Bill With Ridiculous Amendments

[ProSense]

Republicans Flood Immigration Bill With Ridiculous Amendments

—By Adam Serwer

Defying expectations, Congress is poised to take a serious shot at immigration reform. A bipartisan group of eight Senators has agreed on a bill. One of the GOP's brightest young stars, Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), has linked his political future to passage of the bill, and so far managed to wade through a flood of harsh criticism from the right. When the Heritage Foundation, the most influential think-tank in the conservative movement, released a dubious study Monday alleging immigration reform would cost trillions of dollars, it was attacked by not only liberals but also conservatives who are supporting the immigration effort.

The Senate Judiciary Committee will be taking its first crack at the bill Thursday. Republicans opposed to reform have now turned to a time honored tradition of oppositional behavior in the Senate: Offering a whole bunch of amendments to slow down the process and. If they're lucky, they'll be able to slip in a poison pill amendment—a change so noxious that it makes the entire bill harder to pass.

How many amendments? Well, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is currently leading the pack with seventy-seven. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) has proposed 49, and Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) is bringing up the rear with 24.

Here are some of the worst and most random amendments proposed:

<...>

But who can I underpay to cut my grass or drive my limo?

It's apparently really hard to find good (cheap) help these days, so Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) has a modest proposal: Let's allow unauthorized immigrants to work—but only if they're doing low-paid domestic service jobs. Lee's amendment would exempt "services performed by cooks, waiters, butlers, housekeepers, governessess, maids, valets, baby sitters, janitors, laundresses, furnacemen, care-takers, handymen, gardeners, footmen, grooms, and chauffeurs of automobiles for family use" from "prohibitions on unlawful employment of unauthorized aliens." Next: An amendment that would allow employers to feed said domestic workers stale cake.

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http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/05/republicans-flood-immigration-bill-dumb-amendments

The 11 Most Heartless Republican Amendments To The Immigration Bill

By Esther Yu-Hsi Lee

On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee will begin marking up the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act, a bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill that will allow America’s 11 million undocumented immigrants to earn a path to citizenship over 13 years.

Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has promised an open amendment process, leading senators from both parties to offer more than 300 changes to the underlying legislation. Republicans introduced almost two-thirds of the changes, including a series of draconian provisions preventing the undocumented population from ever earning citizenship and or receiving any government assistance. Here are 11 of the most heartless GOP amendments:

1. Undocumented immigrants can never become citizens. <...>

2. Mandatory DNA testing. <...>

3. Zero assistance. <...>

4. Bans humanitarian travel. <...>

5. Guts family re-unification. <...>

6. In-person interviews for 11 million immigrants. <...>

7. Limits visas to South Korea. <...>

8. Enforces head-of-household deportation and causes family separations. <...>

9. Prevents low-income undocumented immigrants from seeking legalization. <...>

10. Restricts visas for refugees. <...>

11. Allows for racial profiling. <...>

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http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2013/05/08/1972011/the-11-most-heartless-republican-amendments-to-the-immigration-bill/

Keep pushing for gay protections in immigration reform, Dems
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022814360

[ProSense]

1. Kick! n/t