The GOP’s ‘Doozy’ on Immigration

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I don’t usually post something without adding my two-cents-worth of commentary and opinion.

However, I have already expressed my opinion on how the GOP Congress has handled immigration reform in “Breaking News: Immigration – The GOP Dillydallies, Then Does a Doozy (Updated)”

Now, “doozy” can be interpreted in two ways: as being outstandingly bad or outstandingly good.

Of course, Republicans are trumpeting their late Friday night double-hitter as the latter.

The New York Times points out this morning, “As Congress takes the rest of the summer off, there may be no two happier House Republicans than Steve King and Michele Bachmann, charter members of the ‘hell no’ caucus that resolutely blocks all efforts at sensible immigration reform,” and “Having spent the summer howling about a catastrophe at the border, Republicans are now congratulating themselves for refusing to solve it.”

I had the other meaning of “doozy” in mind when I wrote about this most recent GOP monumental failure.

The Editorial Board of the New York Times agrees and calls it “Congress, Unhinged on Immigration.”

If you haven’t read my lament, don’t worry. The Times editorial describes the GOP’s “doozy” a thousand times better.

Here are some excerpts:

It was a remarkable two days of legislative dysfunction, even for congressional Republicans, who have been pushing the limits of unhinged governance.
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The House speaker, John Boehner, tried on Thursday to pass a bill dealing with the crisis of migrant children at the Texas border — a harsh bill to deport the children more quickly to their violent home countries in Central America, and to add more layers of border enforcement. But it wasn’t harsh enough to suit the Tea Party, and it was pulled for lack of votes. The hapless House leadership had to drag members back from the start of a five-week vacation to try again on Friday.
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The revised legislation sought to appease the hard-liners, who were insisting on swiftly expelling migrant children but also intent on killing the Obama administration’s program to halt the deportations of young immigrants known as Dreamers. Tea Party members believe, delusionally, that the program, called DACA, has some connection to the recent surge of child migrants, who would never qualify for it. On Friday night, the House passed a bill that dragged immigration reform so far to the right that it would never become law.

The Times then points out, “The Senate’s attempt to address the border crisis, meanwhile, is also dead — filibustered by Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama. Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican who engineered the House revolt, was exultant.”

In the meantime, the Times says:

The border crisis is still a crisis and people are suffering….

Eleven million people are still living outside the law with no way to legalize their status…

And concludes, “Now it’s President Obama’s job to fill it, to keep his promise to end the border crisis…And the hard-liners will scream at any action he takes.”