Kudos To The 26 Brave Republican Congress Members With Sagacity

Rep. Jeff Denham has emerged as the centrist in the GOP’s madness.

By Felicia J. Persaud

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Jan. 23, 2015: John Boehner and his right wing band of mad men are at it again – offering no solutions but using their power to show exactly how they feel about immigrants.

The ‘Mad Hatter-In-Chief, Boehner and many on the right – with the exception of 26 level headed Republicans, on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2015, passed an amendment to a Department of Homeland Security funding bill sponsored by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).

That amendment aims to block funds for President Barack Obama’s 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and overturns the President’s immigration executive actions back to 2011, which of course means attacking those ‘Dreamers’ program or young undocumented immigrants the President has wisely given protection to.

The new GOP plan of attack which Congressman Luis Guiterrez wisely calls  measure would also restore the much criticized Secure Communities and give it increased funding, while taking away the president’s authority to set priorities for deportation. Of course the irony in all this is that at the same time the GOP House is threatening to take away funding for the Department of Homeland Security and shut it down.

Oh the madness!

And there is more…

Here is Boehner himself showing his lunacy over the bill that passed  236-191.

“We do not take this action lightly, but simply there is no alternative. It’s not a dispute between the parties or even between the branches of our government. This executive overreach is an affront to the rule of law and to the Constitution itself,” said the great B!

Still the silver lining from this all is the 26 brave Republican centrist congress members who have emerged and showed prudence and commonsense in voting against the measures.

For the record they are:

Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV)

Mike Coffman (R-CO)

Ryan Costello (R-PA),

Carlos Curbelo (R-FL)

Jeff Denham (R-CA)

Charlie Dent (R-PA)

Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL)

Bob Dold (R-IL)

Chris Gibson (R-NY)

Richard Hanna (R-NY)

Joe Heck (R-NV)

Crescent Hardy (R-NV)

John Katko (R-NY)

Tom MacArthur (R-NJ)

Peter King (R-NY)

Adam Kinzinger (R-IL)

Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ)

Martha McSally (R-AZ)

Pat Meehan (R-PA)

Devin Nunes (R-CA)

Dave Reichert (R-WA)

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL)

Chris Smith (R-NJ)

Fred Upton (R-MI)

David Valadao (R-CA).

Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC)

Big kudos to them! They all recognize the power of the immigrant and Latino vote unlike the Grand Ole’ Party stuck in the past.

California Rep. Jeff Denham, more so than most, gets this. He called the bill’s effect scape goating the innocent, telling reporters at the bicameral GOP retreat last Thursday at a resort in Pennsylvania: “I think not having a clear message on the issue is a drag on the party.”

“It not only sets us back on immigration reform, I think it sends a mixed message to the American public which we’re going to have to straighten out,” TPM.com quoted him as saying. “Just throwing DACA out there early without having an overall reform bill, I think, brings great concern — not only from the Senate colleagues that I’ve talked to but the folks in my district that I’ve talked to.”

Boehner would be wise to listen, especially with that immigrant son-in-law of his now part of his family! America’s face and color is thankfully changing Boehner; time to get with the program or say bye, bye in 2016.

The writer is CMO of Hard Beat Communications, which owns the brands News Americas Now, CaribPR Wire and Invest Caribbean Now.