Rubio Heckled at "Defending American Dream Summit" & Business Leaders Counting on GOP for Immigration Reform

Thinking he was in a safe environment in speaking at the Americans For Prosperity "Defending the American Dream Summit," when taking the stage, Senator Marco Rubio was heckled and booed for his support of weak immigration reform..... 

A small but loud group booed and heckled Florida Sen. Marco Rubio while he tried to give a speech at a conservative conference here Friday, a sign that his support for a bipartisan immigration bill has hurt him within some elements of the Republican Party.

“No Amnesty!” several people shouted when Rubio walked to the lectern at the Defending the American Dream Summit, an annual gathering of Republicans and conservatives organized by the advocacy group Americans for Prosperity. (More.....)

Besides Rubio rightly being booed for undermining the very voters that elected him, one has to wonder why this Koch Brothers event was named "Defending the American Dream Summit." 

With the Koch Brothers hosting pro-amnesty forums and having the Koch Brothers funded Cato Institute hypocritically claiming that an influx of illegal immigrants will help the economy, when in fact an influx of illegal immigrants will drive down current wages and will actually take jobs from Americans workers -- the AFP "Defending the American Dream Summit" could / should have been called "Undermining the American Dream Summit."

So while Rubio is being heckled and booed over his signature immigration reform bill (S. 744), business leaders are now counting on GOP Leadership in the House to deliver low wage workers that will take American jobs.... (emphasis added)

"We believe strongly that fixing the immigration system makes for a healthier American economy and must attract individuals from around the world," said Matt Sonnesyn, director of research for the Business Roundtable.

"We are making sure we have the labor force needed, especially in the service industries, so as the economy gets cooking, we're better able to maintain productivity."

He also is encouraged to see House lawmakers, especially those in leadership, consistently talking about need for a careful process. 

"They are talking about how to move it forward, not about how to kill it," he said. 

With a current unemployment rate of 7.4% and unemployment rates increasing in 28 states we do not need to import workers from around the world, there are plenty of unemployed and under employed Americans that can fill the labor force needed!

Make no mistake on the push for immigration reform -- the Democrats want it for votes and the establishment elite in the GOP are trying to deliver for their corporate donors that wish to drive down wages even further by undercutting American workers in exchange for illegal immigrants willing to take low paying jobs.

Contact Speaker Boehner, (202)225-0600, and tell him we do NOT support Rubio's Senate Comprehensive Immigration Bill (S744) and we do not want it in conference committee with any weak immigration bills crafted by the House!

And make sure to join grassroots groups from across Ohio as the stand together against Illegal Immigration in Speaker Boehner's District on Saturday Sept. 7th at the "Rally For America".

(Click Here for more Info).

It is time to put the United States and American Citizen's first!  

Be part of the Ted Cruz's conservative tsunami

32 Days to Obamacare : If you have not yet signed the online petition Don’tFundIt, go here. You will receive an email to confirm that you intended to sign the petition. As of 7 pm on Thurs., Aug. 29, there were over 886,100 signatures, and counting. Let’s get that number over a million.

Be part of the Ted Cruz tsunami

Tea Party Patriots were in the news yesterday. The Wall Street Journal ran a front page story "Anger at IRS Powers Tea-Party Comeback," featuring Jenny Beth Martin: 

With clipboard in hand and "don't tread on me" rattlesnake earrings dangling, Jenny Beth Martin, the woman sometimes described as the tea party's den mother, stood guard over the microphone at a Capitol Hill protest of the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative groups. 

. . .

The uproar has revived media attention and renewed the intensity of many tea-party supporters. Just last week, Mrs. Martin says, the Patriots received a new letter from the IRS asking for additional information about the group's activities, including copies of all direct-mail solicitations and telemarketing scripts before the 2012 election and any advertising materials in 2013. "This is beyond anger and frustration," she says.
  . .
Today, health care has returned to the forefront as activists urge lawmakers to strip funds needed to implement the new health law, while also protesting a proposed overhaul of the immigration system. [emphasis added]

The immigration / amnesty bill is arguably the more urgent of the two, but responding to Sen. Ted Cruz’s call for a grassroots “tsunami” at the Don’tFundIt website to Defund Obamacare, and at TownHalls and on the phones, can delay Obamacare AND stop Immigration “Reform.” A  giant wave of grassroots action can influence legislators, especially those up for re-election in 2014, on both issues.

Be a part of Ted Cruz’s conservative grassroots tsunami! Make some calls to senators who need persuasion or can't seem to find their backbones. Scroll down the Don’t Fund It webpage and take your pick.

Yesterday at Speaker Boehner's Office: Defund Obamacare

33 Days to Obamacare : If you have not yet signed the online petition Don’tFundIt, click here. You will receive an email to confirm that you intended to sign the petition. As of 5 pm on Weds., Aug. 28, there were over 791,900 signatures, and counting. Let’s get that number over a million.

Our friends at the Ohio Liberty Coalition shared some photographs of hundreds who attended the "Pull the Plug on Obamacare" rally in Troy, OH.  

and there was apparently a counter-rally of supporters of Obamacare:

More photos are here. Hat tip: Ted Stevenot.

Immigration Reform: Life or Death?

34 Days to Obamacare : If you have not yet signed the online petition Don’tFundIt, go here. You will receive an email to confirm that you intended to sign the petition. As of 3 pm on Tues., Aug. 27, there were over 670,000 signatures, and counting. Let’s get that number over a million.

John McCain is on the wrong side. Again.

From The Hill today:

McCain: Next few weeks a 'critical time 

in the life or death' of immigration reform

Once the House of Representatives returns after Labor Day, immigration will likely top members' legislative agenda, Arizona's senators said at a town-hall meeting on Tuesday. 

“It will be a critical time in the life or death of this legislation,” Sen. John McCain, (R) said about the immigration reform bill the Senate passed in June.McCain discussed the bill with his junior colleague, Sen. Jeff Flake, (R) in their home state at a roundtable focused on the issue, hosted by The Arizona Republic, 12 News, and azcentral.com. 

McCain and Flake are both members of the bipartisan “Gang of Eight,” which also includes Sens. Michael Bennet, (D-Colo.), Dick Durbin, (D-Ill.), Lindsey Graham, (R-S.C.), Robert Menendez, (D-N.J.), Marco Rubio, (R-Fla.), and Charles Schumer, (D-N.Y.). The group wrote and championed the immigration reform bill through the upper chamber in June. The final vote was 68-32. 

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has said he won’t take it up in the House.  

“I remain guardedly optimistic,” McCain said about the House advancing immigration reform. The senator said he hopes the House will pass legislation so the two chambers can go to conference and compromise on a single bill that will eventually go to the president. 

. . . 

Enhanced border security, an E-Verify system for employers and a pathway to citizenship for immigrants already living illegally in the United States are some of the notable provisions of the comprehensive bill, which is more than 1,000 pages.

Memo to the Gang of Eight: There already ARE pathways to citizenship in this "comprehensive" bill. And as Mark Steyn, pointed out in a recent NRO column,

“Comprehensive” today is a euphemism for interminably long, poorly drafted, and entirely unread — not just by the people’s representatives but by our robed rulers, too (how many of those Supreme Court justices actually plowed through every page of Obamacare when its “constitutionality” came before them?). 

Mr. Speaker, do not pass ANY immigration bill. Any bill that differs from the Senate bill will go to conference and get “fixed” behind closed doors. Just. Say. No.  Here are Boehner’s details again.

Butler County Office  PH (513) 779-5400

Miami County Office PH (937) 339-1524

Clark County Office   PH (937) 322-1120

D.C. Office

PH  (202) 225-6205

FAX (202) 225-0704

And his mailbox (send postcards):

Speaker John Boehner

7969 Cincinnati-Dayton Road, Suite B

West Chester, OH 45069

 # # #

How to delay Obamacare: “Stand up and win the argument.”

36 Days to Obamacare : If you have not yet signed the online petition Don’tFundIt, go here. You will receive an email to confirm that you intended to sign the petition. As of 5 pm on Sun., Aug. 25, there were over 551,500 signatures, and counting. (And scroll down on the petition website for status updates on which senators are for, against, or uncommitted; phone numbers there also!)

Photo source: Policymik website

Good news:

Ted Cruz doubles down on threat to defund Obamacare, proposes alternatives

Those of us who joined the tele-town hall a few weeks ago learned that Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Bridenstine (R-OK) had a plan to defund and delay Obamacare. It’s a long shot, but it’s a plan. And Tea Party Patriots are part of that plan. The Obamacare exchanges kick in on October 1, so it’s now or never. We can continue to pressure the Speaker of the House and his fellow foot-draggers by calling them, sending postcards, faxing them and pointing out the looming deadline and the urgency of defunding. Don’t be misled by reports that Cruz and Co. want to defund the government and Obamacare by failing to pass a Continuing Resolution on Oct. 1. No, what they are proposing is that the GOP–majority House pass a Continuing Resolution that funds everything (including stuff patriots would otherwise not want included) EXCEPT Obamacare.

From The WashingtonTimes:

Sen. Ted Cruz on Sunday doubled down on his call to arms in “defunding Obamacare,” even if Senate Democrats are highly unlikely to approve any short-term spending deal this September that impugns President Obama’s signature domestic achievement. 

Mr. Cruz, Texas Republican, said that if the GOP-controlled House could pass a continuing resolution that strips the Affordable Care Act of funding this September, a “grass-roots tsunami” of opposition to the health care law could force the Senate to relent.

The GOP, he told CNN, has to do something it hasn’t done in a long time: “Stand up and win the argument.” 

. . .On health care, Mr. Cruz said Mr. Obama’s law is a “job killer” that has forced businesses to drop coverage or shift workers to part-time status. He said these changes have an outsized effect on the most vulnerable, including minorities and single moms.

Rising to an oft-repeated challenge, Mr. Cruz offered three health care reforms that Republican[s] may support in lieu of Mr. Obama’ plan. 

He said that Americans should be allowed to build up health savings accounts in a tax-advantaged way, that health coverage should be “personal and portable” and divorced from employment, and that consumers should be allowed to purchase health insurance across state lines instead of quarantining policy options to the individual states.

Speaker Boehner’s details again:

Butler County Office  PH (513) 779-5400

Miami County Office PH (937) 339-1524

Clark County Office   PH (937) 322-1120

D.C. Office

PH  (202) 225-6205

FAX (202) 225-0704

And his mailbox (send postcards):

Speaker John Boehner

7969 Cincinnati-Dayton Road, Suite B

West Chester, OH 45069

* * *

Pull the Plug on Obamacare Rally (Ohio)

Rally to Pull the Plug on Obamacare

PRO-FAMILY MOVEMENT & TEA PARTY UNITE

 TO “PULL THE PLUG” AT BOEHNER’S OFFICE

Defund Obamacare Rally in Troy, Ohio Next Tuesday! 

August 20, 2013 – For Immediate Release

With unprecedented unity, the pro-family movement, Tea Party groups, and freedom-loving Ohioans are joining together outside Speaker John Boehner’s district office (12 South Plum Street in Troy, Ohio) to stand against the funding of Obamacare with a “Pull the Plug” Rally next Tuesday, August 27, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.

Among those speaking are former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of Tea Party Patriots, Brent Bozell, founder of ForAmerica, Doc Thompson from The Blaze, Ted Stevenot of Ohio Liberty Council,  Janet Porter of Faith2Action and many more.

“Symbolic votes against Obamacare are great, but now it’s time to pull the plug on funding the monstrosity that threatens our lives and livelihoods.” said Ken Blackwell, “Join us next Tuesday to encourage the Speaker to pull the plug on Obamacare before it’s too late!”

“If the President can delay Obamacare for Big Business, Big Government and Big Labor, Speaker Boehner can do it for the American people, and we are calling on him to do it,” stated Jenny Beth Martin of Tea Party Patriots.

“Why would we give the keys to our healthcare to the same branch of government that continues to target Tea Party and Conservative groups, denying them the right to assemble?” asked Janet (Folger) Porter, president of Faith2Action, who is organizing the event. “We must pull the plug on Obamacare before he pulls the plug on us!”

“The citizens of Ohio have spoken loudly and clearly by passing the Healthcare Amendment: Keep Obamacare out of Ohio!” added Beth Cox of the Preble County Liberty Group. “Speaker Boehner: Please defund Obamacare and save lives.”

GOP "scared" to Defund Obamacare; Amnesty pressure still on

40 Days to Obamacare : If you have not yet signed the online petition Don’tFundIt, go here. You will receive an email to confirm that you intended to sign the petition. As of 2 pm on Weds., Aug. 21, there were over 439,500 signatures, and counting (and closing in on a half million).

Defund Obamacare Update

Gohmert: GOP leaders ‘scared to death’ of plan to defund ObamaCare

From Pete Kasperowicz’s report in The Hill:

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) said Tuesday that the Republican leadership is "scared to death" of efforts to block funding for ObamaCare, fearing the strategy could end the GOP's House majority.

The GOP have it backwards. Again. They will lose their House majority if they don’t stand up for America and its laws. More from the article:

"They think if we have a shutdown, or a big showdown, we may lose the majority, and they will lose their leadership positions," Gohmert said at an event in Longview, Texas, according to the Longview News-Journal.

Gohmert said Republicans need to stand up for what they believe in — as Democrats did when they passed the president's healthcare reform law — and now push to defund it.

"What does it say about Republicans if we're not willing to stand up for what we know is best for the country?" he asked.

Thank you, Rep. Gohmert for taking a principled stand:  

WASHINGTON, DC OFFICE:

2243 Rayburn HOB

Washington, DC 20515

PH (202) 225-3035

FAX (202) 226-1230

Immigration “Reform” update

From The Hill:  House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is getting defended by a center-right group for his views on immigration reform.

The $65,000 cable advertising campaign in McCarthy's district is funded by the American Action Network. It comes in response to pressure from the left for him to back comprehensive immigration reform.  

The American Action Network touts McCarthy's support for immigration legislation that would secure the border first.

"Why are special interests attacking Kevin McCarthy? Because Kevin fights for us, not them," the ad says. "On immigration, Kevin's got the conservative approach we need, that starts with securing the border first."

Immigration reform is a sensitive issue for McCarthy, whose district is about 35 percent Hispanic. 

The House majority whip has been the target of rallies by unions and other pro-immigration forces during the August congressional recess who hope to pressure him into supporting broad immigration reform that would include a pathway to citizenship for the nation's estimated 11 million illegal immigrants.

Message to Rep. McCarthy. Stay the course. Don’t vote for any “broad immigration reform that would include a pathway to citizenship for the nation's estimated 11 million illegal immigrants. There already are many pathways to citizenship for illegal immigrants. Secure the borders. Enforce the law. Pass NO House bill. Do not pass ANY bill into conference.

Details for Rep. McCarthy:

Rep. Kevin McCarthy

4100 Empire Drive, Suite 150

Bakersfield, CA 93309  

 or

DC office PH: 202-225-2915

And let's stay on Speaker Boehner’s case again (NO IMMIGRATION BILL THAT GOES TO CONFERENCE):

Butler County Office  PH (513) 779-5400

Miami County Office PH (937) 339-1524

Clark County Office   PH (937) 322-1120

D.C. Office

PH  (202) 225-6205

FAX (202) 225-0704

And his mailbox (send postcards):

Speaker John Boehner

7969 Cincinnati-Dayton Road, Suite B

West Chester, OH 45069

 # # #

Boston gathering exposes rifts in GOP; Cleveland Tea Party Patriots Co-founder comments

and Mr. Priebus‘ choice for featured luncheon speaker Thursday at the RNC:

 “Boston gathering exposes rifts in GOP, despite Priebus’ best efforts”

Here’s an excerpt from Ralph Z. Hallow’s article in the Washington Times over the weekend:

BOSTON — Once again attempting to achieve the impossible for a single party in a two-party system, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus did his best at the RNC’s summer meeting here to show respect for the many competing strains of thought in his party. 

Unfortunately for Mr. Priebus, the effort to acknowledge everyone satisfied almost no one. 

Some blasted him for violating conservatism’s freedom-first principles when he won unanimous passage of a resolution to ban two major TV networks  from hosting 2016 GOP presidential nomination debates.

Others hit him for quietly helping to table resolutions to undo party rules changes that Mitt Romney’s campaign had pushed through last year. 

Still others hammered him for featuring as speakers neoconservative war hawk Bill Kristol, the President Obama-praising New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Sen. Scott P. Brown of Massachusetts, the antagonist of social conservatives. . . .

. . .To the surprise of many RNC members, Mr. Christie, Mr. Priebus‘ choice for featured luncheon speaker Thursday, won enthusiastic approval from the Boston audience members for what they said was the solidly conservative content of his speech — despite his past squishy views on abortion, same-sex marriage, gun-control and immigration and, just before the 2012 elections, his high-profile chumminess with President Obama who extended generous federal aid to New Jersey after Superstorm Sandy. 

“Christie knocked it out of the park on Thursday here,” said Pastors & Pews founder David Lane, who attended the RNC meeting. “If he gets the social issues down, he will be formidable.”

“He gave a fabulous speech but would I support him for the nomination? No way,” said Louisiana GOP Chairman Roger Villere. “Would I support him if he were our nominee in 2016. Yes.”

Not so for tea party groups around the country.

“Typical of a Republican Party that has lost its way and is being led by a faltering conservative compass,” said Cleveland Tea Party Patriot cofounder Ralph King. “Conservatism and the United States need someone like Ronald Reagan. And Mr. Priebus, Governor Christie is no Ronald Reagan.”

Arizona tea party activist and former Maricopa County GOP chairman Rob Haney said that “tea party sentiment is more like, ‘It’s time to dissolve the RNC and start over. Tea partiers feel betrayed by even those whom they had championed, like Chris Christie — and the RNC for its flip to pro-amnesty on immigration.”

Where do conservative value voters go? 

Steve Salvi interview on the Shamnesty bill

42 Days to Obamacare : If you have not yet signed the online petition Don’tFundIt, go here. You will receive an email to confirm that you intended to sign the petition. As of 2 pm on Mon., Aug. 19, there were over 376,800 signatures, and counting.

Steve Salvi interview on the Shamnesty bill

Steve Salvi, founder of the Ohio Jobs & Justice Pac, shares his thoughts on what will happen in the United States if S. 744 gets passed by the House of Representatives. Salvi sees S. 744 as amnesty for illegal immigrants, and argues that supporting millions of illegals with U.S. taxpayer money at a time when many Americans are hurting economically makes little sense. He feels that if an amnesty bill passes the House, it will put the final "nail in the coffin" for America as we know it.  

The interview was taped at the March for Jobs Rally held in Washington, D.C., on July 15, 2013. View it here. 

And here are members of the current Hall of Shame GOPs:

A conservative alternative to Obamacare

45 Days to Obamacare : If you have not yet signed the online petition Don’tFundIt, go here. You will receive an email to confirm that you intended to sign the petition. As of 4 pm on Fri., Aug. 16, there were over 348,500 signatures, and counting.

Rep. Tom Price's alternative to Obamacare

Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) proposed an alternative to Obamacare that Patriots should know about – especially when commentators such as Newt Gingrich criticize the GOP for failing to come up with an alternative. From National Review Online:

The bill aims to provide affordable coverage for all through a series of tax credits and deductions designed to entice individuals into the insurance market with positive incentives, as opposed to Obamacare’s solution of fining those who refuse to purchase health insurance. “It’s a carrot instead of a two-by-four,” Price says. “Regardless of where one fits in the economic spectrum, there is a financial incentive to purchase health coverage that the individual wants, not that the government forces them to buy.”

The law would allow individuals to opt out of Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health-care-benefit programs in favor of receiving a tax credit; an individual’s health coverage would be “portable” — no longer tied to an employer — so losing a job wouldn’t also mean losing insurance; individuals and small businesses would be able to access insurance pools that reduce risk for those with pre-existing conditions, and they could purchase plans across state lines. Tort reforms would cut down on physicians’ practicing “defensive medicine” and driving up costs by ordering unnecessary procedures in an effort to avoid lawsuits. 

The plan is based on six principles: affordability, accessibility, quality, responsiveness, innovation, and choice. “All of those principles are violated by the Affordable Care Act,” Price says. “When you step back and look at those principles, it guides you to a system that allows patients and families and doctors to be in charge.” 

And yet when Republicans talk about health care, few actually point to Price’s bill as an alternative plan, which only reinforces the perception that the GOP has no plan beyond repealing Obamacare.

More on Rep. Price's website here, including the bill itself AND proposed legislation to prohibit the IRS from enforcing Obamacare. 

Two Senators and one GOP who are on not on board with delaying Obamacare and who need to hear from us:

Sen. Tom Coburn

Washington D.C.:

Main: 202-224-5754

Fax: 202-224-6008

1800 South Baltimore

Suite 800

Tulsa, OK 74119

Main: 918-581-7651

Fax: 918-581-7195

100 North Broadway, Suite 1820

Oklahoma City, OK 73102

Main: 405-231-4941

Fax: 405-231-5051

Sen. Richard Burr

Federal Building

151 Patton Avenue, Suite 204

Asheville, NC 28801

Phone: (828) 350-2437

Fax: (828) 350-2439

100 Coast Line Street, Room 210

Rocky Mount, NC 27804

Phone: (252) 977-9522

Fax: (252) 977-7902

Washington, DC

Phone: (202) 224-3154

Fax: (202) 228-2981

2000 West First Street,  Suite 508

Winston-Salem, NC 27104

Phone: (800) 685-8916

Phone: (336) 631-5125

Fax: (336) 725-4493

City Hall

181 South Street, Room 222

Gastonia, NC 28052

Phone: (704) 833-0854

Fax: (704) 833-1467

201 North Front Street

Suite 809

Wilmington, NC 28401

Phone: (888) 848-1833

Phone: (910) 251-1058

Fax: (910) 251-7975

Rep. Paul Ryan

20 South Main Street, Suite 10

Janesville, WI 53545

(608) 752-4050

5455 Sheridan Road, Suite 125 

Kenosha, WI 53140 

Phone: (262) 654-1901 

Fax: (262) 654-2156

216 6th Street 

Racine, WI 53403 

Phone: (262) 637-0510 

Fax: (262) 637-5689

# # #

Speaker Boehner, just say it: NO conference

47 Days to Obamacare - If you have not yet signed the online petition Don’tFundIt to delay Obamacare, go here. You will receive an email to confirm that you intended to sign the petition. As of 3 pm on Weds., Aug. 14, there were over 301,800 signatures, and counting.

 Speaker Boehner : NO conference on Amnesty

The following extract is from an editorial at National Review Online; it provides patriots with the message for Speaker Boehner on any House bill on Immigration “Reform”

Nothing if not a shrewd political operator, [Sen. Chuck] Schumer knows that the best chance for the Gang of Eight bill is a House-Senate conference and that the only way to get there is incremental legislation in the House. Incremental fixes to the immigration system make sense on the merits, and House Republicans understandably want to show that they favor their own set of reforms rather than oppose anything and everything. But incremental bills are destructive if their ultimate purpose is to get to a conference committee that would bless a version of the Gang of Eight bill. House leadership aides pooh-pooh the possibility of a conference committee. Well, then, there is a simple way to allay our fears and those of other opponents of the Gang of Eight — for Speaker Boehner to make a blood-oath commitment to oppose any conference committee.. . . 

Instead, Boehner was unwilling to say even what his own position is on immigration on Face the Nation a few weeks ago, repeatedly describing his role as that of a “facilitator.” This is, needless to say, not confidence-inspiring. The speaker has said in the past that he favors comprehensive reform, and there is enormous private pressure from the Republican establishment and donor class to pass a comprehensive bill by hook or crook to “put the issue behind us.” . . . 

It would be a travesty if the House leadership subverted the will of its conference to find a way to rescue the Gang of Eight bill. Speaker Boehner should crush Schumer’s hopes and give his word — no conference.

Contact info for GOP Speaker John Boehner:

Butler County Office  PH (513) 779-5400

Miami County Office PH (937) 339-1524

Clark County Office   PH (937) 322-1120

D.C. Office

PH  (202) 225-6205

FAX (202) 225-0704

And his mailbox (send postcards):

Speaker John Boehner

7969 Cincinnati-Dayton Road, Suite B

West Chester, OH 45069