5 reasons GOP should say no to immigration plan

Here are five compelling reasons why Republicans should walk away from a bill that is bad for the country and would force them to abandon their core principles:

1. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy will not even allow hearings on a bill.

Rubio has put his reputation and possibly his political future on the line in negotiations with Senate Democrats. One of the things he has insisted upon is transparency in the legislative process. In response, he has been publicly rebuffed by Leahy who has condescendingly informed Rubio and other Republicans that normal Senate procedures will be short-circuited as a bill is rushed to the floor with little or no scrutiny.

2. Democrats will not agree to border security and other enforcement requirements as a prerequisite to amnesty.

Rubio and other Republicans have insisted on border security and other enforcement triggers before legalization could begin. The Obama administration has refused to even provide a metric for measuring border security, while the Senate’s lead Democrat on immigration policy, Sen. Chuck Schumer, demands that legalization take place before border security or other enforcement provisions are in place.

3. The legislation will create a new government bureaucracy that will set wages and working conditions.

As part of an agreement to get both organized labor and business interests on board, the bill will create a new government agency to be known as the Bureau of Immigration and Labor Market Research. This new division of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will determine the labor needs of businesses across the country, decide if labor shortages exist, and set wages and working conditions.

4. The legislation would extend Davis-Bacon “prevailing wage” requirements to private-sector jobs.

The Davis-Bacon Act requires that federal contractors pay workers a government-determined prevailing wage. Under the labor/business compromise, a government-determined prevailing wage, as well as expensive and time-consuming government-required paperwork, could be applied to jobs in which no government contracts are involved. In essence what the Republicans will be agreeing to is legislation that would flood many sectors of the U.S. labor market, thereby depressing wages, followed by arbitrary, job-killing government regulations designed to artificially prop them up.

5. The bill would be a budget-buster.

Legalizing millions of low-skilled undocumented immigrants and creating a new visa category dedicated to increasing low-skilled immigration would wreak havoc on federal, state and local budgets. Democrats, seeking the broadest possible amnesty, will oppose any effort to bar legalization of those who are likely to become public charges. In addition, legalized immigrants would be eligible for subsidized coverage under Obamacare, which the Republican Budget Committee staff estimates could add $200 billion to the price tag in the first decade of the program.

It is time for Republicans in Congress to acknowledge what many Americans already know: The White House and the Democratic leadership are bargaining in bad faith. The bill that will most likely be introduced in the next week or two will contain nothing that benefits American workers and American taxpayers. It is nothing more than amnesty, cheap labor for employers, staggering costs and massive new government regulations and bureaucracies.

Having made an honest attempt to work with Democrats, Republicans need to offer a viable alternative prescription for immigration reform — one that puts the interests of the American people first and one that does not force them to sacrifice their principles.

Dan Stein is president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/5-reasons-gop-should-say-no-to-immigration-plan-89896_Page2.html#ixzz2QG84hJAD