House Speaker Paul Ryan
successfully pushed through Congress his $1.1 trillion omnibus spending
bill that funds visas for nearly 300,000 temporary and permanent Muslim
migrants over the next 12 months. The omnibus bill also funded sanctuary cities, illegal alien tax
credits, and changed federal law to allow for a massive increase in
low-skilled H-2B workers– an immigration expansion opposed by
more than nine in ten GOP voters. Yet at the first gathering of all House
Republicans since the omnibus’s passage, Politico reports that GOP lawmakers gave Ryan a standing ovation
at the close of this week’s Republican Congressional retreat.
Politico writes: “Retreats like this week’s pow-wow at Baltimore’s
Inner Harbor are typically contentious affairs. For the past four years,
lawmakers used it as an occasion to scream at John Boehner and Eric
Cantor. During their last session here, however, Ryan got a standing
ovation as he made commitments to [pursue] big ideas.”
Yet neither John Boehner nor Eric Cantor joined
Barack Obama to expand Muslim immigration in
to the United States– a distinction which is uniquely
Paul Ryan’s.
The Politico piece, entitled “House Republicans Happy For Once,”
notes specifically that Republican lawmakers “feel good” about Ryan’s policies–
a distinctly different sentiment than the one held by the GOP
electorate:
After years of poisonous relationships, disgust and
recriminations, something bizarre happened here: House Republicans found
happiness. It’s too early to tell if it’s momentary or permanent, but
House Republicans feel good about Speaker Paul Ryan’s push to develop new
policies.
Ryan laid out those policies—which he described as a “bold,
pro-growth agenda”—in this week’s Republican address. The policies– which read
like the usual Republican clichés espoused throughout Ryan’s career– will focus
on five areas: health care, “poverty and opportunity,” “constitutional
authority,” national security, and “jobs and economic growth”.
Interestingly, nowhere in Ryan’s priorities is the topic of
immigration mentioned– even though Paul Ryan views mass immigration as part of
his vision for growing the economy, along with passing President Obama’s
unpopular trade policies.
In fact, Ryan even avoided addressing the subject of immigration
when discussing his national security priorities. While Ryan notes that
Republicans will boost national security by focusing on “building a
21st-century military,” he makes no mention of stopping the large-scale visa
issuances to Muslim migrants. More
