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Hal Rogers, Obama Republican



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What is Hal Rogers, chairman of the House appropriations committee, thinking? First he said it was imperative to pass a long-term funding bill, invoking the non-existent threat of a government shutdown, despite the fact that such a bill would enable Obama to complete his lawless amnesty scheme. Then, Rogers said Congress should pass the budget but then take back the money for amnesty next year through “rescission” (which Andy McCarthy has demolished as absurd). Now he says it’s “impossible” for Congress to stop Obama’s lawless amnesty because US Citizenship and Immigration Services is funded almost entirely through fees rather than appropriations (rubbish).

The most charitable interpretation is that Rogers is like the Alec Guinness character in The Bridge on the River Kwai — so focused on getting an omnibus spending bill passed for the remainder of the fiscal year he doesn’t realize he’s serving as a cat’s-paw of the Japanese Obama. Breitbart has speculated that Rogers is serving the financial interests of a major donor, which I guess is possible but doesn’t seem likely. More likely, I think, is Andy’s point that much of the GOP leadership wants Obama to decree an amnesty, which they support but don’t want be blamed for. If they give up the power of the purse, they can fulminate all the want for the TV cameras secure in the knowledge that Obama will be able to achieve their shared objective.

What I don’t really get is why Obama would throw Rogers and his other Republican allies in Congress under the bus by issuing his amnesty decree now, with several weeks before a new spending bill needs to be passed (the current one expires December 11). There’s no chance now that a long-term funding bill can get passed, meaning the new Republican Congress in January can add a rider to a free-standing money bill for the immigration agencies, and leave the budget for the rest of the government as-is. I’d love to hear any informed speculation about why Obama decided to jump early — it doesn’t seem likely he picked today because it’s the traditional observance of Mexican Revolution Day, but we may not know for sure until the post-administration tell-all books come out.

In any case, let’s hope Hal Rogers realizes his mistake, if that’s what it is, before William Holden gets shot.



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