On Fox News Sunday, Sen. Marco Rubio blamed President Obama refusal to cave to Republicans by gutting the ACA for his own party’s refusal to pass immigration reform.
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Sen. Rubio said, “The president has undermined this effort, absolutely, because of the way he has behaved over the last three weeks…It’s my position as well that the House deserves the time and space to craft their own solution. Now, this notion that they’re going to get in a room and negotiate a deal with the president on immigration is much more difficult to do for two reasons. Number one, because of the way the president has behaved towards his opponents over the last three weeks as well as the White House and the things they’ve said and done, and number two, because of things I’ve outlined to you. So I certainly think that immigration reform is a lot harder to achieve today than it was just three weeks ago because of what’s happened here.”
In layman’s terms what Rubio was saying is that since President Obama was a big old meanie by refusing to give Republicans what they wanted, congressional Republicans are now going to punish the president and millions of immigrants in this country by refusing to pass immigration reform. The problem for Sen. Rubio is that the Senate already passed immigration reform. There isn’t much he can do in the Senate, but what he was referring to was the House Republican plan to “punish Obama” by not voting on immigration reform.
The best way for Republicans to continue to place their House majority is jeopardy is by refusing to vote on comprehensive immigration reform. Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Cantor won’t bring the comprehensive immigration reform bill to the House floor for a vote, because it would definitely pass.
Instead of a vote, they have chosen to hand President Obama and the Democrats a giant club to beat them over their heads with for the rest of this year and through the 2014 election. The strategy going forward for Republicans is clear. They are going to use the president’s refusal to give in to their demands of killing the ACA as an excuse not to vote on anything.
Congressional Republicans are refusing to do their jobs while still getting paid by the taxpayers. The strategy of blaming President Obama for their failure to do what the taxpayers are paying them for is almost as bad as Ted Cruz’s shutdown the government to kill Obamacare gambit.
Republicans are just spinning their wheels. Congressional Republicans are still fighting a PR battle, when they have already lost the war, and they are steaming down a path that could up giving Democrats control of the House.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
