Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Arizona Republic(an) columnist E.J. Montini nailed it in this post about Senator Obstruction, Jon Kyl, and his bogus ACHIEVE Act. Kyl's irrelevant final act:
What good is introducing a piece of legislation that you KNOW isn’t going to pass while you’re in office?
Because it’s for show.
It makes you look conciliatory. It makes you look statesmanlike.
All the things you should have been doing all those years when you were in office and NOT about to retire.
But that’s how politics works. Not exactly a profile in courage.
Arizona’s
retiring Sen. Jon Kyl and Texas’s retiring Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison
introduced a meaningless piece of legislation that is an alternative to
the Dream Act. Their proposal would offer kids brought illegally into
the country by their parents a chance to remain here, but without a path
to citizenship.
"We
need to have a discussion that is sensible, that is calm," Sen. Kyl is
quoted as saying. "This particular piece of immigration reform seemed a
logical place to begin."
That’s true. We should have a calm, sensible conversation about the Dream Act kids.
We should have had it years ago.
Why now?
I’m
guessing the proposal by Kyl and Hutchinson had at least a little bit
to do with [over] 70 percent of Latinos voting for President Barack Obama in
the last election.
That’s OK, too.
Elections should spur discussions.
Unfortunately,
the two senators initiating this one have been around for decades and
could have started the discussion long, long ago. And what good is a
discussion that you admit isn’t going to lead anywhere?
Because it’s for show.
For the politicians, anyway.
It’s not a show for the Dream Act kids.
* * *
The
fate of the Dreamers lies in the hands of other politicians, among
whom, hopefully, there are some who are conciliatory and statesmanlike
enough to actually get something done.
Not for show.
For real.
By the way, here is part of what Arizona's embarrassment, Jon Kyl, said the other day that did not get reported in the Arizona media, exposing him as a cynical fraud. GOP Senator: If Immigrants Want A Path To Citizenship, They Can Just Marry Americans:
[T]he bill introduced on Tuesday by retiring Republican Sens. Jon Kyl (AZ) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX), dubbed the ACHIEVE Act,
is nothing more than a watered-down version of the bipartisan DREAM Act
without a clear path to citizenship for those who would qualify under
the measure.
Hutchison emphasized that the measure, which would require applicants
to apply for three different visa programs over several years, does not offer
a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. “It doesn’t allow
them to cut in line in front of people who have come and abided by the
rules of our laws today,” she said
during a press conference. “It doesn’t keep them from applying under
the rules today, but it doesn’t give them a special preference.”
Kyl sought to dismiss the necessity of providing immigrants with a
path to citizenship by suggesting that they should — unlawfully — marry
U.S. citizens for immigration purposes:
KYL: Realistically, young people frequently get married. In this country, the biggest marriage pool are U.S. citizens. A U.S. citizen can petition for a spouse to become a citizen in a very short time…so I
don’t think it’s any big secret that a lot of people who might
participate in this program are going to have a very quick path to
citizenship, if that’s the path they choose.
Watch it here:
The senators admitted during a press conference that it is unlikely they will make much progress on this bill while they are still in the Senate. They said they wanted to begin the process and let other senators take up the effort after the lame duck session. The ACHIEVE Act is reportedly based on Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) working draft of a GOP alternative to the DREAM Act, an idea he floated last summer. So far Rubio is not a co-sponsor of this bill.
Whichever editor at The Arizona Republic(an) is responsible for this Jon Kyl press release masquerading as an editorial opinion really needs to be fired. Arizona is leading again:
Let's call this the beginning of Arizona's rehabilitation.
Republican Sen. Jon Kyl's Achieve Act moves our state toward a leadership role on immigration reform.
Correction: It moves our state back toward a leadership role.
I'll spare you the rest of this GOPropaganda.