Kevin Dietsch/UPI/Newscom
It has been said those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Will that be the case with the immigration debate playing out on Capitol Hill?
Take Senator Chuck Schumer (D–NY):
When people see what is in this bill and when people see what it does, they will come around. The reason people are negative is not the substance of the bill, but the fears that the opponents have laid out. When those fears don’t materialize, and people see the good in the bill, the numbers are going to go up.
Schumer was not speaking of the Senate immigration bill. The above quote is from 2009 during the debate over Obamacare.
As the nation witnesses the implementation of Obamacare characterized as a “train wreck” and dwindling support among the Democratic base, one has to wonder if past supporters of the health care legislation have Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time” on repeat in their minds. But here’s a silver lining: Surely we have learned that comprehensive legislation is not the best approach—right?
Apparently not. Similar to Obamacare, the Senate immigration bill is a complete monstrosity. Having passed with limited time for Senators to comb through its language, the 1,200-page bill follows the same “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it” blueprint used with Obamacare.
The bill is littered with similar extreme costs to taxpayers, a laundry list of loopholes, and carve-outs for special interests, and it appears that Congress is suffering from a bad case of amnesia. Yet despite these numerous and varied concerns, the American people are being urged to forget the past and to trust that time will prove that the concerns surrounding this legislation are unwarranted. Sound familiar?
Supporters of the Gang of Eight immigration bill claim that it will secure the border and keep the nation from facing illegal immigration in the future. All we have to do is forget the lessons we have learned from Obamacare and, while we’re at it, forget that these are the same promises that were made to the American people during the 1986 immigration reform debate.
Can the American people really trust Washington this time? As the Obama Administration continues to choose which laws it’s willing to enforce, are we to believe it will implement any part of a bill that doesn’t coincide with its approach of amnesty first, maybe do something about the border later?
With Representative Bob Goodlatte (R–VA) announcing support of amnesty for 11 million illegal immigrants, Senators Bob Menendez (D–NJ) and Schumer all but guaranteeing passage of the Senate bill’s main components, and Senate Republicans’ recent willingness to cave under pressure, we may be heading toward a repeat of the Obamacare debacle.