( – promoted by Colorado Pols)
The headline of a Dec. 6 Pueblo Chieftain article, titled “Senator-Elect Has New Idea on Pinon Canyon,” should have actually been, “New Lawmaker To Be First GOP Senator to Support State Version of Dream Act.”
The Pueblo Chieftain’s Peter Strescino began his Dec. 6 story with freshman state Sen. Larry Crowder’s idea, which isn’t so new, for the state to purchase property at Pinon Canyon from the Army.
But the real news, given Republican obstinence to lowering tuition for undocumented college students, was Crowder’s promise not only to buck his fellow Republican Senators’ position on lowering tuition rates, but also his advocacy of a path to citizenship for undocumented students:
Crowder also advocated a version of the so-called Dream Act, which would allow lower college tuition rates to children who were brought to the country illegally, have been in Colorado schools systems a number of years and are college eligible academically. ”If they agree to choose and participate in a path to naturalization, I say, help them with the tuition.”
A path to naturalization! Plus lower tuition! In that order. Jackpot!
“A path to naturalization.” I wrote it again to help you appreciate that it’s not a phrase that flows from the mouth of a Republican very often, and hence the news value of Crowder uttering it.
You hear murmurs of support from GOP state lawmakers for lowering tuition rates, proposed as part of ASSET legislation last year, but when was the last time you heard a Republican at the State Capitol stand up for giving any current undocumented immigrants, even children, the same citizenship opportunities our country gave Italian immigrants, for example, who came to America illegally in the past.
Reporters should find out if Crowder plans to work with President Obama, who supports a path to citizenship, and if Crowder will get on the horn to his fellow Colorado Republicans in the House of Representatives, because they’re the ones who will be working on legislation that deals with the citizenship issue, since that’s obviously decided at the federal level.
And none of them supports any path to citizenship for the country’s 11 million illegal immigrants.
Full story: New GOP CO Senator Comes Out in Favor of State Dream Act, Path to Citizenship
Pretty radical! Hope he means it. But I have to wonder if he’ll be totally ostracized from his caucus.
It will be interesting following his actions this session to see how far he strays from the party line.
He wants the state taxpayers to buy land to give to the US Army?
NFW. Thank you, but no.
As for a path to citizenship – pretty sure the only Colorado Senators that can do anything about that are Senators Udall and Bennet.
In state tuition for non citizens…ok- that is a radical breakthrough. How did oklahoma and Texas ever get that passed?
And w/o getting into the question of a pathway, wasn’t immigration and not guns supposed to be first on Obama’s agenda after the fiscal cliff?
6 and 7 year old babies will have that effect on immediate priorities. And then there’s the GOP forcing all of these pointless, unnecessary cliffs, next up supposedly allowing the US to default on debts by refusing to raise the debt limit, a completely new tactic dreamed up by the com post-GW GOPT, to pay for stuff they’ve already passed. And dragging there feet on relief for Hurricane Sandy. Oh and, of course all the pointless sturm and drang over the President’s cabinet picks which they now like to start before anyone is even nominated. And on and on and on. But the idea is still to put a high priority on immigration reform. It’s tough when the party that controls the House is such a clown car full and the Senate minority is only marginally saner.
Just spotted this article on how Club for Growth successfully infiltrated the House with their nutwing candidates:
Result: these new congresscritters owe nothing to the GOP establishment (especially Boehner), and everything to the partner that brung ‘em.
Things happen when you’re the head of a country that might take you off course a bit.
But be assured: last time I checked this President can walk and chew gum at the same time. Even the House can do that – provided that one of the things is repealing Obamacare and the other one is discussing how to chop the support structure out from under retired people.
Back in 2008 Obama promised CIR his first year. He had the House. He had a filibuster proof coalition in the Senate (there were independent senators then that caucused with dems). Yet he chose to ignore the issue and set record numbers of deportations (at least I think record, double check).
So when you say “walk and chew gum” – remember – we’ve been here before on this issue.
the past 4 years except attack women’s rights to make their own health care decisions and deprive them of affordable options and passing draconian show me your papers legislation at the state level. Other than that the GOP has been absent from any efforts to tackle any of the big issues, including immigration. These aren’t things that the President can decree. Oh wait. He’s already used his executive power to the fullest extent possible, which represents the only progress made so far.
If the GOP showed one tenth the concern for people, very much including children of legal citizens or not, who have actually been born as they do for fertilized eggs that have yet to implant in uterine walls, that would be a nice change.
Answer: less than three months due to illnesses and deaths, and that’s being generous. And during those three months, Republican Senators slowed down everything as much as they could, forcing 30-hour post-cloture debates on everything in sight.
I seem to recall an active immigration reform debate: it went something like: “we’ll block anything that has a path to citizenship, all the illegals have to be deported” on the one side – and the other side wasn’t able to do anything in time to overcome it.
In the meantime, yes, Obama has deported a record number of people. That happens when you increase the number of DHS personnel drastically as the budget passed under the Bush Administration (and maintained under the past 4 years of Congress) did. But he’s also managed to make some policy changes that make some of those deportation decisions better than they were. He’s in the Executive branch, not the legislative branch; he’s obligated to carry out the laws.
the Patient Protections and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that sucked up all the oxygen in the room during 2009.
historic levels of not doing anything, it’s curious to see Elliot’s criticism of the President for not doing enough.
Compared to congress, with the GOP in control of the House and conducting a record number of filibusters in the Senate, the President has been a veritable dynamo of accomplishment.
Granted the GOP congressional caucus has set a bar so low, my lazy 14 year old cat could sail over it without a running start but Obama has done a great deal better than just clearing the worm level GOP bar.
I especially love the way Rs like to castigate him for lack of leadership while refusing to rally to anything he proposes just because he proposed it, including ideas that came straight out of their own think tanks and that they themselves were calling for 15 minutes ago. It’s so nakedly hypocritical and blatantly insulting to everyone’s intelligence. At least you can’t accuse them of lack of chutzpah.
My criticism is for when Obama had filibuster proof majorities Senate. House was Dem back then too.
you don’t seem to direct much where it is most warranted.
And may a trend toward sanity in the GOP be another one of those things for which Colorado will turn out to be a harbinger.
for the undocumented.
Driver’s licenses for the undocumented is a positive for the entire community.
In my limited participation with public engagements on the ASSET bill, it is interesting that one of the most common initial reactions from those opposed is that these students should just apply for their citizenship first and then they can have in-state tuition. Despite the longstanding public battles over immigration policy, there is still a mistaken perception by much of the public that it is just a matter of getting in line or going through an application process for these student. In fact, of course, the problem is that there is no line and there is no process for them. Otherwise, they’d have already taken care of it. Anyway, assuming that Crowder really means what he said regarding creating a pathway to citizenship, kudos to him.