Complications on guns and immigration
by digby
Before the bombing yesterday, I happened to hear Debbie Wasserman Shultz comment that she thought the gun bill was probably going to be tougher to pass than immigration and it would appear that’s probably so. She was talking about the senate, but it looks like it may be headed for trouble in the senate too. It’s the usual problem of red state Democrats voting with the Republicans. In fact, this time they won’t even vote to break the filibuster and allow a vote (which they could then vote no on!)I’m going to guess they understand very well that the people won’t care if they allow a vote, but the NRA sure will. Red State Democrats are hardly ever profiles in courage:
Senate Democrats were desperately working Tuesday to keep alive the modest bipartisan legislation to expand mandatory background checks to some gun sales, claiming momentum in public and offering new concessions to skeptical senators in private.
The epic struggle to pass even a minimal tightening of gun laws — a scaled-back version of the universal checks that 90 percent of Americans support — is yet another testament to the power of the gun lobby, led by the National Rifle Association, which opposes the compromise.
The deal announced last Wednesday by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Pat Toomey (R-PA) to expand background checks to gun shows and Internet sales was supposed to be the breakthrough that secured 60 votes for the cause. It didn’t happen. Democrats conceded Tuesday that they lacked the necessary votes to overcome a filibuster and were seeking to win over fence-sitting senators by considering exemptions.
“Now, am I saying it’s all over with, done, we got the votes? No,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) told reporters Tuesday afternoon. “But we certainly feel we have the wind at our back.”
Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) confirmed Tuesday that Manchin, Toomey and supporters of their bill are open to carving out an exemption that permits gun dealers who live more than a hundred miles from a firearm licensee to sell a firearm without conducting a background check on the buyer. The aim is to win senators from states like Alaska and North Dakota, which have large rural constituencies.
And so it goes. It may still pass. But it’s getting harder. I just read that the Dems now need to “run the table.” And who knows what the kooks in the House will do?
As Wasserman-Shultz also said yesterday, immigration reform has the added benefit of having a political motivation for the Republicans. As much as many in their base hate Mexicans, they still need some of them to vote for them or the presidency is out of their grasp.
I’m very much for immigration reform, obviously. And I sincerely hope something rational passes, even though the usual good old boys like Senator Jeff Sessions are yanking all the usual chains. But honestly, can they actually justify this level of added spending at a time when they are starving the government everywhere else?
• $3 billion to increase manpower and resources, including up to 3,500 Border Patrol agents, grants to local law enforcement agencies, unmanned aerial vehicles, surveillance technology and Department of Defense radar technology.
• Authorizes the deployment of National Guardsmen to help build Border Patrol outposts and monitor the region.
• $1.5 billion to extend the 651 miles of existing fencing across the 1,969-mile border.
Once that plan is developed and submitted to Congress, the nation’s unauthorized immigrants could apply for temporary legal status.
There’s never any lack of money when it comes to policing agencies is there? Even when it’s for absurd projects like patrolling thousands of miles of border with drones. (What are we going to do, shoot hellfire missiles at them?) And to make the undocumented wait until the military industrial complex and DHS get all the goodies on their wish list is just sick.
I guess this may be the best we can do, but what a ridiculous bunch of hoops these people will have to jump through:
Immigrants would be able to achieve that status — and be known as “Registered Provisional Immigrants” — if they entered the U.S. before Dec. 31, 2011, and maintained continuous physical presence in the country, pass a criminal background check and pay $500 and any outstanding taxes. That temporary status could be renewed six years later with an additional $500 payment.
Meanwhile, all business owners would have to begin checking the immigration status of new hires using the federal E-Verify program, and the government would have to implement a program to track every time a person enters and exits the country.
Homeland Security would then face a big test five years after starting its border security program. The agency will have to prove that it is monitoring 100% of the border, and intercepting 90% of people trying to illegally cross it in “high-risk” areas.
If Homeland Security doesn’t reach those goals, the job would be handed over to a newly-created “Southern Border Security Commission” made up of governors from the four border states – California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas – and other border experts appointed by the president and leaders of both parties of Congress.
The commission would receive an additional $2 billion to develop and implement a strategy to reach those goals. But the commission would not need to reach any statistical benchmarks for border security before Registered Provisional Immigrants to begin applying for green cards.
Ten years after the bill is passed, and after paying an additional $1,000 fee, those who have remained under temporary legal status could apply for a green card, and then U.S. citizenship three years later.
If they live that long.
Oh, and by the way, the wingnuts still consider this “amnesty” and they think it’s soft on the border. I think they really won’t be happy unless we decide that it’s legal to use those hellfire missiles on little Mexican women and children. It’s working so well elsewhere ….
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