Congressman Steve Stockman Says Senate Amnesty Bill Is Unconstitutional

29 Jun, 2013 by William Teach

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Not that many elected officials actually care about that pesky Constitution thingy

(Washington Times) Rep. Steve Stockman, a Texas Republican, said Friday that the Senate immigration bill is a revenue measure, which makes it unconstitutional because all revenue bills must start in the House.

“Not only is the Senate amnesty bill an abuse of taxpayers and immigrants, it’s utterly unconstitutional,” Mr. Stockman said. “The Senate cannot invent its own amnesty taxes.”

He called on House Speaker John A. Boehner to officially reject the Senate bill as unconstitutional using what’s known in Congress as the “blue slip” process, which is when the House informs the Senate that one of its bills contains taxes or spending and therefore must come from the House.

Blue slip procedures are considered privileged motions and can be brought quickly to the chamber floor for debate and a final vote.

I’d mention that Article 1, Section 7, Clause 1, but Democrats and some Republicans have amnesty on their minds and won’t be dissuaded by the ultimate legal document of our Republic.

Meanwhile, here’s Robert Menendez (D-NJ) on voting for the amnesty bill with its pesky border security portions

“It was painful to me, and not only in the sense that I believe that it’s a bad policy, as chairman of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, I believe that it’s a bad policy regarding neighboring countries,” said Menendez in an interview with Univision, according to a transcript.

Yet, he still voted for it, since he knows that, at worst (for his side), the federal government will take some token steps to show that they are Doing Something to secure the border.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.