Standing Between Sovereignty and Open Borders: 1,603 Page, $1.1 Trillion Omnibus Spending Bill

By Joe Guzzardi
December 10, 2014

Few outside of Texas or Capitol Hill know U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions. Yet Sessions, who holds the influential chairmanship of the House Rules Committee, has slowly emerged as the leading GOP open borders proponent.

Only a month after Republicans scored major congressional wins based on their campaign promises to reject President Obama’s immigration agenda, GOP leadership has abandoned their supporters. House Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Whip Steve Scalise and Sessions have conspired in a plot that will literally open the United States’ southern border with Mexico to anyone who wants to enter.

Late Tuesday night, Boehner dropped a 1,603 page, $1.1 trillion bill that would fund all of Obama’s executive actions. The bill funds the entire government through the fiscal year 2015 except for the Department of Homeland Security whose funding will expire on February 27. At that time, however, the House is expected to authorize funding for the entire Obama amnesty.

Using the two-pronged approach, the House can eventually fund Obama’s executive action for 5 million unlawful immigrants. Since only about 48 hours remain before Congress leaves on recess, no legislator will have time to read much less understand Boehner’s bill which Sen. Rand Paul called “an abomination.” Absent time and the irrational fear of shutting down the government to preserve American sovereignty, Boehner’s proposed legislation is expected to pass, but only with Democrats’ votes.

The developments leading up to Boehner’s bill have been so bizarre that they defy credibility. Capitol Hill insiders confirm that an anonymous “someone,” possibly from Sessions’ office, and acting on behalf of Boehner and McCarthy, slipped a secret exception into Rep. Ted Yoho’s (R-FL) allegedly symbolic bill promoted as a way to nullify Obama’s highly unpopular executive amnesty. Yoho promised that his legislation would “re-establish the rule of law,” and block “the president’s lawless, unconstitutional executive action from going into effect.”

But without the House’s knowledge, revised language inserted into the original bill will enable Obama to defend his highly unpopular and questionable action.  In a maneuver best described as procedural trickery, a late night amendment changed the essence of Yoho’s bill when it added an exception which states that amnesty will be granted “for humanitarian purposes where the aliens are at imminent risk of serious bodily harm or death.” Obama has argued that “humanitarian” causes are at the core of his executive order. But since House members weren’t advised before they voted about the revision, Yoho’s measure passed and will enable Obama to defend his executive action.

More treachery followed. Sessions, who is not related to Sen. Jeff Sessions, inadvertently revealed that when the new Congress convenes in January, one of its first orders of business will be to establish open borders legislation that will allow unlimited immigration into the U.S. and take all but the most violent criminals out of possible deportation. Sessions said that even in “his wildest dreams” he could not envision an immigration bill that allows for deporting “any person” living in the U.S. regardless of his immigration status. Leading illegal immigrant advocate Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) hailed Sessions’ embrace of a pro-amnesty Congress.

If Sessions, Boehner, McCarthy and Scalise prevail, what’s coming are millions more illegal immigrants, higher entitlement costs, deeper deficits, accelerated school and hospital crowding, exploding population as well as a host of other unwanted social and environmental consequences that American voters specifically and overwhelmingly rejected a mere month ago.

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Joe Guzzardi is a Californians for Population Stabilization Senior Writing Fellow. Contact him at [email protected]