{"id":18245,"date":"2013-06-24T15:05:24","date_gmt":"2013-06-24T19:05:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/?p=18245"},"modified":"2013-06-24T15:05:24","modified_gmt":"2013-06-24T19:05:24","slug":"rand-stands-firm-on-border-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/18245\/rand-stands-firm-on-border-security\/","title":{"rendered":"Rand Stands Firm on Border Security"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the U.S. Senate votes today on the Corker-Hoeven amendment<\/a> \u2013 a last-minute attempt by moderate Republicans to create the veneer of bipartisanship on the Gang of Eight\u2019s immigration bill \u2013 Rand Paul is fast-becoming the voice and face of conservative opposition.<\/p>\n

Late last week the Senate rejected Paul\u2019s \u2018Trust But Verify\u2019 amendment that would have required annual votes by Congress to decide whether the southern border is secure. As written, the Gang\u2019s bill punts the hard decisions about security to the Department of Homeland Security, the same bureaucracy implementing \u201cdeferred action\u201d on over 1 million illegal immigrants.<\/p>\n

With the Senate refusing to accept responsibility for securing the border, Paul is a solid No vote on the Gang\u2019s version of immigration reform<\/a>. And for good reason. As the Kentucky Republican noted on CNN, the Gang\u2019s bill is \u201cdead on arrival\u201d in the GOP-led House of Representatives.<\/p>\n

My guess is that adoption today of Corker-Hoeven \u2013 if it happens \u2013 won\u2019t change Paul\u2019s or any other conservative\u2019s support because the slap-dash amendment is little more than a grab-bag of promises that can easily be nullified by DHS. As with most immigration proposals, there are no real teeth when it comes to enforcement.<\/p>\n

By contrast, Paul\u2019s \u2018Trust But Verify\u2019 amendment makes a systemic change in immigration policy<\/a> by getting Congress back in the game on border security. Putting politicians on record about the state of the border will force them to focus on the metrics necessary to make such a decision. And since a voting record is the most direct way to measure a legislator\u2019s performance in office, you can bet that a series of border security votes will be one of the key factors in future elections.<\/p>\n

This kind of accountability is exactly what the Constitution envisions for Members of Congress. Rand Paul is right to steer clear of deceptive attempts by the Gang and Corker-Hoeven to sound tough on the border while in reality shirking responsibility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the U.S. Senate votes today on the Corker-Hoeven amendment \u2013 a last-minute attempt by moderate Republicans to create the veneer of bipartisanship on the Gang of Eight\u2019s immigration bill \u2013 Rand Paul is fast-becoming the voice and face of conservative opposition. Late last week the Senate rejected Paul\u2019s \u2018Trust But Verify\u2019 amendment that would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1464,84,4117,4100,981,669,1447,826,178],"class_list":["post-18245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-posts","tag-border","tag-congress","tag-dhs","tag-gang-of-eight","tag-immigration","tag-rand-paul","tag-reform","tag-security","tag-u-s-senate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18245"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18250,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18245\/revisions\/18250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}