GOP Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy assures illegal immigration enthusiast occupiers that there just isn't time to pass amnesty this year, with the recess and the legislative calendar. Sorry, ladies!
Unspoken Kevin McCarthy subtext: I would like to keep my job, and if the GOP base sees us pass an amnesty, there won't be a GOP Majority for me to be whip of. This is one more example of the adage that even if elected officials are incapable of seeing the light, they can generally feel the heat.
McCarthy: No House votes on immigration this year
Third-ranking House Republican tells immigration advocates no House votes this year
By Donna Cassata, Associated Press, November 8, 2013
WASHINGTON (AP) — The third-ranking House Republican told immigration advocates that lawmakers won't vote this year on the issue, confirming what many had long assumed.
California Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the majority whip, said in a meeting with immigration proponents that there weren't enough days left for the House to act and he was committed to addressing overhaul of the nation's immigration system next year. The congressman's office confirmed what he said.
Angelica Salas, [Email her] the board chairwoman for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, described her conversation with McCarthy in a conference call with reporters on Friday and a subsequent interview with The Associated Press.
"What he said was, there's 13 days left, it's very hard to do anything in 13 days," Salas said of McCarthy.
The House returns next week after a weeklong break, but only has a few legislative days remaining.
The Senate passed a comprehensive bill in June that would provide a path to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants in the country illegally and tighten border security, but piecemeal bills in the House have languished since the summer.
Salas and about a dozen women occupied McCarthy's Bakersfield, Calif., office on Thursday to increase the pressure on the Republican to move ahead on immigration legislation. Around 11 p.m. that night, McCarthy and his wife, Judy, met with the group protesting the delay."He said, 'Ladies, I hear you want to talk to me. This is just not the way to do it,'" Salas recalled. She said McCarthy and the group spoke for about an hour, and the women explained that while they appreciated his support for immigration reform, it was imperative for the House to act as soon as possible.[More, links and emphasis added]
A real conservative would, of course, have had these ladies arrested and thrown out of his office. But a real conservative would have illegals arrested and thrown out of the country.