Sad Day for HouseEvents Which Led to Illegal Immigrants Receiving Benefits

Today, U.S. Rep. John Boozman (R-AR) expressed remorse at the events on the House floor late Thursday which led to a walk-out of Republican members after a GOP amendment to deny illegal immigrants benefits in the agriculture appropriations bill was seemingly defeated.

“What happened last night is an indicator as to the extent the House leadership will go to defeat common-sense legislation which a majority of Americans want,” Boozman said. “Last night, a majority of the House of Representatives voted to deny benefits to people in our country illegally. Instead, the leadership did not like that result, and proceeded to produce one more politically appealing to them - namely, allowing benefits to illegal immigrants.”

The controversy surrounded the gaveling of the vote on a Republican Motion to Recommit to the Agriculture Appropriations Bill, which would prohibit grant and rental housing assistance funding to illegal immigrants. At the time, the vote was 215-213 in favor of the motion, while the chair announced a 214-214 tie - which would result in the motion’s failure. Minutes later, the chair called the final tally 212-216, which included vote changes by Democrats after the vote had already been gaveled to a close. Had the Motion to Recommit been allowed to succeed, voting for the evening would have concluded, instead the House voted on final passage of the agriculture bill. As a protest, over 100 House Republicans walked out.

“It is a sad day for the House, and for America, as the Democrat leadership chose to void the vote of other Democrats, and Republicans, who came together in a bipartisan majority to protect the money of American taxpayers from being distributed to illegal aliens.”
See: Republicans walk out on House vote

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Tags: Agriculture Bill, federal funding, illegal aliens, John Boozman, US House To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!