According to Rand Paul, Speaker Boehner must put his foot down and prevent comprehensive immigration reform from passing, or else!
“He has to hold the line. If he passes — if he allows something to pass out of conference that looks anything like the Senate bill, and it is passed with a majority of Democrats, I think that will be the final thing he does as Speaker,” Paul told Laura Ingraham’s radio show on Friday. “I think he knows that, and I think he’s going to be very cautious.” [...]
“I’m worried about conference,” he said. “And what I would say is, the only way to avoid a problem with conference is for the Speaker of the House to say we are not going to conference and we will not allow a vote on anything coming out of conference that resembles a vote on the Senate bill.”
To make things even sweeter — Paul said he would only support a bill if its primary focus is border security, insisting that proponents of reform “dial it back.”
To put that another way, he would only support a bill that serves as a gigantic giveaway to defense and security contractors that would lead to a more militarized border.
The immigration bill passed by his fellow senators accomplishes that, however it also includes a path to citizenship and other features supported by Democrats. Those are the parts Rand Paul doesn’t want. In fact, he doesn’t even support going to conference to negotiate or reconcile. He would rather vote on a new bill in the Senate that does not compromise or include a path to citizenship, and he wants to force a new vote by killing immigration reform in the House.
Including a heaping pile of Border Security™ enabled the passage of comprehensive immigration in the Senate. The Senate bill is already a compromise. And it’s not good enough for Senator Atlas Shrugged.
I’ll just cut to the chase here. If you were among those who decided to “stand with Rand,” you’re a fool.