Voters: Keep Passing Bills Even If Obama is Opposed

"A new Rasmussen Reports poll issued Friday found that 59 percent of voters 'think Congress should continue to pass legislation that most members of Congress support even if the president is opposed'," writes Paul Bedard at the Washington Examiner. "Just 25 percent want Congress to cave into the White House and 16 percent are unsure."

Despite bipartisan support, Obama vetoed the Keystone bill this week, and is promising to use the veto pen much more in his last two years in office.

The poll of 800 likely voters taken this week could also strengthen the backbone of Republicans eager to use the Department of Homeland Security spending bill to punish Obama's decision last year to grant worker amnesty to some 5 million illegal immigrants.

Congress's Non-Priority Immigration Reform

"New polling data from Gallup shows that an overwhelming majority of Americans do not think handling immigration reform is even close to a top priority for 2014," writes Matthew Boyle at Breitbart. (See Gallup poll graphic below)

In fact, only three percent of Americans think the issue is a priority that must be dealt with this year.

Despite the fact that most Americans clearly do not think Congress or President Barack Obama should consider immigration issues a priority in 2014, House Speaker John Boehner and the rest of House GOP leadership are currently considering them a priority.

The immigration/amnesty legislative priority, argues IBD, stems from an unholy alliance of business (the 208 major U.S. companies in The Business Roundtable) and politicians in Congress ("including many in the GOP leadership").

It's hard not to be cynical about this. Businesses like cheap labor. And politicians like political contributions from business. So they've formed an unholy alliance to push the idea that the costs of amnesty for illegals would outweigh the benefits. But they don't.

Last year, economists Robert Rector and Jason Richwine of the Heritage Foundation toted up the fiscal costs to U.S. taxpayers of unlawful immigrants and amnesty. They're staggering.

On average, the study found, the average illegal immigrant household costs U.S. taxpayers about $14,387 a year. All told, in 2010, the U.S. had a fiscal "deficit" — that is taxes collected vs. welfare spent — of $55 billion for illegal immigrant households.

Well, the argument goes, after amnesty they would become taxpayers, and those costs go away, right?

Wrong. In fact, the deficit per illegal household goes up to $28,000 after amnesty, or nearly $160 billion nationwide. And that's just for those illegals already here.

"Amnesty would provide unlawful households with access to over 80 means-tested welfare programs, ObamaCare, Social Security and Medicare," the authors note. "The fiscal deficit for each household would soar."

Malkin: Left-funded GOP 'Main Street' Groups

"What do George Soros, labor unions, and money-grubbing former GOP representative Steven LaTourette all have in common?" asks Michelle Malkin. "They’re control freaks. They’re power hounds. They’re united against tea-party conservatives. And they have all operated under the umbrella of D.C. groups masquerading as “Main Street” Republicans."

The New York Times shed light on LaTourette’s tangled web of Republican-establishment outfits last week. But that story just scratched the surface. As the paper reported, the Main Street Partnership is a nonprofit group that charges members up to $25,000 per year to rub elbows with Washington’s rich and powerful. The Main Street Advocacy Fund and the Defending Main Street super PAC are political satellites planning to amass $8 million to bolster Republican liberals and moderates facing tea-party challengers in 2014. ...

The Times notes that “corporations and lobbyists” fund the Main Street Partnership. But far-left donors provided seed money for these affiliated K Street fronts.

Malkin tracks the money — $50,000 from George Soros, $400,000 from two labor unions — that has funded the center-left "pro-bailout, pro-debt, pro-amnesty, anti-drilling" plans of these Main Street groups that include GOP Senators John McCain, Mark Kirk and Susan Collins.

Along with the anti-tea-party U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the “Main Street” fat cats and union leaders have banded together to help President Obama push through amnesty for illegal aliens. The payoff: cheap labor for big business, cheap votes for the Democratic party.

There’s nothing principled about their agenda. It’s not about “common sense.” It’s about the Benjamins. These statists in populist clothing are running a Washington incumbency-protection racket. Same as it ever was.

UPI reported this week on a Rasmussen Reports poll indicating "just 8 percent of likely voters think Congress is doing a good or excellent job" while "66% rate its performance as poor." Perhaps voters are better at sorting the good guys from the bad than D.C. lobbyists think.