The GOP’s candidate for the Senate seat in Louisiana says he wants the 2015 government appropriations bill to include a rider that blocks spending on President Barack Obama’s amnesty.
The leadership’s appropriations bill doesn’t include the rider. It is scheduled for passage early next week, amid growing criticism from conservative legislators who say it does not block the amnesty.
The growing opposition has prompted House Speaker John Boehner to ask Democratic leaders to provide votes to overcome the GOP opposition to the amnesty.
The Dec. 4 announcement of opposition by Louisiana Rep. Bill Cassidy came hours after the publication of a new poll showing overwhelming opposition to Obama’s executive order.
The poll showed that 41.2 percent of likely voters in Louisiana said their top issue was blocking President Barack Obama’s amnesty for illegals. The 41.2 percent opposition to amnesty was triple the 15.3 percent of respondents in oil-rich Louisiana who cited the XL pipeline as their top issue, and well above the 28.9 percent who said Obamacare is the most important issue.
On Dec. 6, Cassidy is expected to beat incumbent Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu in a run-off election.
In June 2013, Landrieu voted for passage of an immigration bill that would have doubled the annual inflow of immigrants and guest workers to almost 4 million per year.
The state poll was released the same day that Boehner admitted he would not try to defund Obama’s unilateral amnesty, announced Nov. 21.
Obama’s amnesty will increase the labor supply and likely suppress Americans’ wages and cost taxpayers $40 billion a year for the next 50 years. Illegals will take jobs even at low wages, because the jobs help migrants gain the extremely valuable reward of U.S. residency and citizenship. The amnesty is supported by many business groups.
After protests by GOP legislators, Boehner said he would provide only two months of federal funding to Obama’s main immigration agency.
But that won’t stop the amnesty, because the agency can use fees from illegal immigrants to print up new work-permits and Social Security cards. A rider that bars any spending would block the amnesty.
Cassidy’s statement did not say he would vote against Boehner’s budget if the rider is not included.
Boehner also declined to say if he would propose a new bill in 2015 to curb the amnesty, even though any bill would likely be vetoed by Obama.
Boehner’s new pro-amnesty stance matches the interests of the GOP’s donors, who want to employ foreign workers in place of some Americans. But his decision to accept Obama’s amnesty contradicts his prior anti-amnesty language, and rejects the demand from most GOP supports for a halt to Obama’s amnesty.
The new poll likely understates opposition to Obama’s amnesty, because it was conducted one day before Obama’s Nov. 21 amnesty announcement. Obama said he would provide work-permits to 4 million illegals, give them access to federal aid programs, boost the inflow of university-trained guest workers for professional jobs and also stop enforcement of immigration law against all illegals.
Many other polls show the public doesn’t want the government to increase immigration.
The poll was conducted for Independent Women’s Voice by GEB International.
Ninety-two percent of Republicans and 57 percent of independents say the president should never “go around the law, no matter how important the issue,“ according to the new poll.
The respondents said the “most important single reason to stop illegal immigration is the need to use tax dollars to support American citizens, followed by the need to protect the rule of law.”
“Pluralities of Independents [33%] and Republicans [29%] place the use of tax dollars to support Americans first, while placing the need to protect the rule of law second [27% support among Republicans, 28% support among Independents],” said the poll.