Posted on January 24, 2014

House Conservatives Plot Takedown of GOP Leaders’ Amnesty Plans

Matthew Boyle, Breitbart, January 23, 2014

As House Republican leaders prepare an immigration proposal that could go much further towards amnesty than their prior public stances, conservative lawmakers are quietly plotting to push back.

Aides from over a dozen House offices secretly convened today on the Senate side of the Capitol at a meeting organized by Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, a top immigration hawk who has recently involved himself more aggressively in the affairs of the lower chamber.

“Over here in the Senate working for Senator Sessions, we learned a lot last year about the strategies employed by the powerful forces pushing bad immigration policies–and how to counter them,” reads a copy of the invitation to the meeting provided to Breitbart News by a House staffer.

Officials close to the matter say conservative critics of Speaker John Boehner’s planned immigration push are working to issue their own rival immigration principles to vie with the document Boehner is drafting.

“There is definitely a growing mood of confusion and aggravation among conservatives in the House over the immigration issue right now,” one House GOP aide said in an email to Breitbart News, adding that many on the right find the “political logic” of riling up the party’s base so close to a low-turnout midterm election baffling.

“Do we really want to just give up the midterms like this?” the aide asked.

The building backlash could create for a tumultuous three-day retreat next week as Republicans gather in Maryland to plan the party’s future. Upping the pressure, a key outside conservative today requested access to the retreat to brief lawmakers on the issue.

Top GOP officials, meanwhile, are becoming bolder in their embrace of immigration reform. House Budget Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) emerged Thursday to discuss how House GOP leadership plans to bring immigration legislation to the floor, while on House Majority Whip Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)–the third highest House GOP leadership official–endorsed “legal status” for illegal aliens on Wednesday.

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