A measure that would have opened the doorway to allowing immigrants to serve in the military managed to make it to the floor of the GOP House after being approved by the Armed Services Committee, but the measure did not survive beyond that point.
House conservatives, led by Representative Mo Brook (R-AL), voted down the measure yesterday evening by a margin of 221 to 202, and their stated reason for doing so is amazing.
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) led the effort to strip the measure from the defense bill, arguing that every immigrant allowed to enlist would take away a military spot for a U.S. citizen or lawful immigrant.
"This Congress should support and represent Americans by voting to stop military service opportunities from being taken from struggling American families in order to give them to illegal aliens," Brooks said.
While I realize that military recruiting standards are no longer as lax as they were when we were involved in two ongoing wars, I'm fairly certain that granting immigrants the opportunity to serve in the military would not prohibit other Americans from serving.
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed by the House includes $612 billion in funding. Are you telling me there's a shortage of positions or "opportunities" to fill under that budget?