Senate Parliamentarian Blocks Democrats From Including Amnesty in Gargantuan Reconciliation Bill

Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough on Sunday ruled Democrats cannot include amnesty in their gargantuan reconciliation bill because it not a budget-related matter.

The Democrats are pushing their $3.5 trillion “infrastructure” bill through budget reconciliation to go around Republicans because it will only need a simple majority to pass.

Democrat lawmakers tried to sneak immigration reform in the infrastructure bill because they know it will never pass in a vote that requires at least 60 votes to pass.

The Senate Parliamentarian rejected the Democrats’ effort to give illegals a pathway to citizenship because it would lead to “other, life-changing federal, state and societal benefits.”

Politico reported:

The Senate parliamentarian on Sunday rejected Democrats’ push to include a pathway to legal status in their social spending plan, a blow to the party’s efforts to enact immigration reform.

In the decision, a copy of which was obtained by POLITICO, the parliamentarian determined that the Democrats’ proposal is “by any standard a broad, new immigration policy” and that the policy change “substantially outweighs the budgetary impact of that change.”

In their arguments before the Senate parliamentarian, a former immigration attorney, Democrats made the case that providing green cards to an estimated 8 million Dreamers, farmworkers, Temporary Protected Status recipients and essential workers during the pandemic had a budgetary impact because it would make more people eligible for certain federal benefits. That, in turn, would increase the deficit by more than $130 billion, according to Democratic estimates.

But the parliamentarian in her ruling stated that providing legal status through reconciliation would also lead to “other, life-changing federal, state and societal benefits.”

Providing permanent legal status “would give these persons freedom to work, freedom to travel, freedom to live openly in our society in any state in the nation, and to reunite with their families and it would make them eligible, in time, to apply for citizenship — things for which there is no federal fiscal equivalent.”

In addition, the parliamentarian rejected arguments from Democrats that there is a precedent for including immigration reform in reconciliation. Democrats frequently pointed to a 2005 GOP-led reconciliation bill that addressed a visa backlog.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/09/just-senate-parliamentarian-blocks-democrats-including-amnesty-gargantuan-reconciliation-bill/

More GOP Governors Back Biden’s Plan to Resettle 95K Afghans in Their States

More Republican governors across the United States are publicly supporting President Joe Biden’s massive refugee resettlement operation out of Afghanistan which is set to bring at least 95,000 Afghans to the U.S. over the next year.

Last week, the Biden administration announced that the first group of roughly 36,000 Afghans brought to the U.S. at rapid speed will be resettled across 46 states — including Texas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.

The only areas not receiving Afghans are Hawaii, South Dakota, West Virginia, Wyoming, and Washington, DC.

With more details from the Biden administration on the resettlement operation, more Republican governors have come out to support the plan. In August, without having vetting or screening details, 10 Republican governors announced their support for the plan and asked Biden to resettle Afghans in their states.

Those 10 Republican governors include South Carolina’s Henry McMaster, Maryland’s Larry Hogan, Massachusetts’ Charlie Baker, Utah’s Spencer Cox, Georgia’s Brian Kemp, Arkansas’ Asa Hutchinson, Arizona’s Doug Ducey, Iowa’s Kim Reynolds, Oklahoma’s Kevin Stitts, and Vermont’s Phil Scott.

Another eight Republican governors have since greenlighted the plan, including:

Alabama’s Kay Ivey

Idaho’s Brad Little

Indiana’s Eric Holcomb

Montana’s Greg Gianforte

Nebraska’s Pete Ricketts

New Hampshire’s Chris Sununu

Ohio’s Mike DeWine

Tennessee’s Bill Lee

In Alabama, which initially have 10 Afghans resettled in the state, Gov. Kay Ivey (R) said in a statement that Americans owe “a debt of gratitude to those allies who actively helped our soldiers and diplomats stay safe during our two decades in the country.”

While hundreds will be resettled across Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine (R) thanked the refugee contractors who will resettle Afghans with taxpayer money:

These are individuals who have been partners with United States and deserve our support in return for the support they’ve given us. Thank you to the resettlement agencies and communities who have stepped forward and demonstrated they have the resources necessary to help these individuals in their time of need. [Emphasis added]

Gov. Bill Lee (R) told local media that he wants “full transparency” from the Biden administration in regards to the vetting process for Afghans while still voicing support for the plan.

“Whether it’s persecuted Christians or interpreters who served with our troops, Tennesseans have the right to know exactly who is being settled where,” Lee said. “While we await more information from the federal government, we are in direct communication with our congressional delegation, members of the General Assembly, and local officials.”

Earlier this month, when the Biden administration announced that thousands of Afghans who have not completed their immigration processing would be housed at Indiana’s Camp Atterbury, Gov. Eric Holcomb (R) said he supported bringing Afghans to the state so they could take jobs.

In recent days, Holcomb has solicited donations from Indiana taxpayers to provide Afghans staying at Camp Atterbury with necessities such as clothes and hygiene products.

Montana will have at least 75 Afghans resettled across the state by the Biden administration, a plan that Gov. Greg Gianforte (R) fully supports:

Montana welcomes our fully-vetted Afghan allies who worked alongside us, have left their homes in the face of the Taliban’s reemerging, merciless terror and seek freedom and safety. [Emphasis added]

In 2016, while running for governor, Gianforte campaigned on halting refugee resettlement to the U.S. — sharply criticizing former President Obama’s resettlement of Syrians across the nation.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/09/19/more-gop-governors-back-bidens-plan-resettle-95k-afghans-states/