Dana!Rohrbacher used to be... a surfer, a folk singer, a pot head, a homo, Congress' #1 supporter of the Taliban and a terrorist in Afghanistan (or at least someone who dressed up as a terrorist for a photo shoot). Rohrabacher recognized the affinity between the Taliban and the Republican Party, backed them for bringing "stability" to Afghanistan and told his dumb-as-abrick-constituents in Orange County that the Taliban "intend to establish a disciplined, moral society" and, like Republicans, are just misunderstood "devout traditionalists, not terrorists or revolutionaries." And people in Orange County keep voting for him anyway. Or at least the idiots in Orange County do, not normal people there.And, yes, Dana Rohrbacher is no longer a surfer, a folk singer, a pot head, a homo (he's married with kids now but...) or a Taliban backer, but he's still one of the biggest crackpots in Congress-- and a die-hard racist who's built a career on his hatred of Mexicans and by his unabashed expression of vitriol towards them. He is suspected by many of having fed Mitt Romney that memorable line about self-deportation that sealed the fate of not just Romney, but of so many Republicans in 2012.And this week he publicly announced that he would try to depose John Boehner if he allows a vote on the Senate's immigration reform bill. He knows it would pass in the House and he's apoplectic that Boehner might even consider allowing a vote. “If Boehner moves forward ... and permits this to come to a vote even though the majority of Republicans in the House-- and that’s if they do-- oppose what’s coming to a vote, he should be removed as Speaker," hissed Rohrabacher menacingly. So Boehner caved-- at least temporarily.Even though most mainstream conservative Republicans in the House support the bill-- including Boehner lieutenants Eric Cantor, Kevin McCarthy and Paul Ryan-- Boehner, gin to his head, agreed to abide by the so-called Hastert Rule and not allow a vote unless a majority of House Republicans decide its OK.
“I also suggested to our members today that any immigration reform bill that is going to go into law ought to have a majority of both parties’ support if we’re really serious about making that happen, and so I don’t see any way of bringing an immigration bill to the floor that doesn’t have a majority support of Republicans,” Mr. Boehner said at a news conference after meeting with House Republicans.Mr. Boehner’s comments, both privately in the closed-door meeting at the Capitol Hill Club and publicly, came as some House Republicans have begun to draw a firm and vocal line in the sand, warning Mr. Boehner that his speakership could be at risk if he tries to force through an immigration bill without the support of his conference....Though Mr. Boehner has violated the Hastert rule several times this year — to help avert a fiscal showdown, provide relief for victims of Hurricane Sandy and pass the Violence Against Women Act — he explicitly said on Tuesday that he would not take up an immigration bill without the support of a majority of his party.Mr. Boehner’s comments will make it harder for him to buck conservatives on an immigration overhaul, something that many consider crucial for Republicans hoping to regain their national standing with Hispanic voters. His position will also make it harder to strike a deal between the House and the Senate on a final immigration measure if the legislative process gets that far....Mr. Boehner is well aware of the difficult political situation he finds himself in. When asked if he believed he could lose his job if he violated the Hastert rule on immigration, he said, to laugher, “Maybe.”In the meeting before his news conference, Mr. Boehner offered further reassurances to his members.“This town thrives on non-stories, and the biggest non-story of the week is this speculation that I’m somehow planning secretly to pass an immigration bill without a majority of Republicans,” Mr. Boehner said, according to a source who was present at the meeting. “I have no intention of putting a bill on the floor that will violate the principles of our majority and divide our conference.”Still, Mr. Boehner’s comments come as conservative Republicans are increasingly worried about how the immigration bill will be handled in the House. Representative Steve King, an Iowa Republican and leading opponent of the immigration overhaul making its way through the Senate, plans to hold a six-hour news conference outside the Capitol on Wednesday to voice his concerns about the current bill.
GOP reactionaries and bigots fear that what Boehner will do is allow a vote on the bill the emerges eventually from the Senate-House reconciliation. There may not be many Republican congressmen as racist as Rohrabacher, but Texas lunatic Louie Gohmert certainly is one. And he's ready to rumble. He's running around telling fellow extremists that Boehner "has been consistent on that as far as a bill coming to the floor of the House that the House generates. That is not the concern that Steve King, Michele Bachmann and others and I have had. Our concern has been that even if we pass a very good bill, like Trey Gowdy’s bill, if the Speaker sends that to a conference committee and the report comes back and that’s the one we’re concerned may not have a majority of Republicans... If we get a bill back that has amnesty and 99 percent of the Democrats vote for it and the Speaker can put the pressure on 30, 40, 50 of our guys, people that are committee chairs or in leadership positions, then they can still pass it even without a majority." No one pulls the wool over Louie Gohmert's eyes! NO ONE. (Boehner now appears to have been beaten into submission on the conference report as well.)Compounding the problems of the radical right and Know Nothing xenophobes, Alabama wingnut Jeff Sessions (KKK) demanded the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office to estimate how much money immigration reform would cost the taxpayers. Sessions was unprepared for the answer. Not only does the deficit shrink in the first 10 years by $197 billion if the Senate bill goes into law, the second tens years will see an astronomical $700 billion windfall for American taxpayers. I imagine Sessions, Rohrabacher, Bachmann, King, Gohmert and the other freaks were ready to jump into the DC sinkhole that's swallowing up calls this week.
The CBO score could give the bill a significant boost as the Senate tries to clear it before the July 4 recess. Supporters are hoping for a strong vote in order to put pressure on House Republicans to pass a bill this year.The bill requires increased spending on border security and ultimately would provide a path to legal residency and possible citizenship for the nation’s estimated 11 million illegal immigrants. That status would allow immigrant to tap into federal entitlement benefits but they would start paying taxes for the first time as well.The CBO normally uses a conventional 10-year budget window and this has been a sore point for opponents of the Gang of Eight bill, who had called for a longer-range estimate.The chief Senate critic of the immigration reform bill, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) last month said the bill will be costly once illegal immigrations qualify for entitlements.