Softy Republican senators: Disgraceful

In the run-up to the November election, President Obama rightfully said that he wasn't on the ballot but his policies were. Voters responded and sent a strong message against those policies by kicking out a large number of Democratic office holders and putting Republicans in control of Congress.

It wasn't because Republicans had a strong message. It was because the individual candidates running against those ousted Democrats all voiced their opposition to Obamacare and his illegal executive action granting amnesty to millions of alien lawbreakers.

Three months have passed since that message was sent, and voters now find themselves caught between a Democratic rock and a Republican soft-place. Democrats have no power, but when the issue of Obama's amnesty came up in the Senate, they put up a united front to shield the president from having to veto a popular measure – the bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security sans funding for amnesty.

When that happened, Republicans, who have all the power, grabbed their pacifiers and blankies and went into their soft-place hidey-holes.

For the uninitiated, before a bill can reach the floor in the Senate where it can be amended and voted upon, it has to pass a cloture vote, which requires a super majority of 60 votes. Republicans now hold 54 Senate seats. Therefore, six Democrats must vote for cloture in order to begin debate on the Senate floor.

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It shouldn't be a hard threshold to meet considering at least six of those Democrats and one independent who caucuses with Democrats have expressed opposition to the president's executive order to grant amnesty to millions of lawbreakers: Claire McCaskill, Mo., Joe Manchin, W.Va., Heidi Heitkamp, N.D., Angus King, Maine, Al Franken, Minn., Mark Warner, Va., and Joe Donnelly, Ind. Read their statements here.

All seven have since backpedaled by saying an amendment to the DHS appropriations bill is not the way to do it. Maybe not, but Obama's illegal action has given Congress little choice other than rolling over and playing dead. That seems to be the preferred option for those seven senators listed above. It also seems to be the preferred option for Senate Republican leaders.

Once you open the dam and the floodwaters of amnesty and work permits are implemented, there is no way to put it back. To pretend otherwise is disingenuous to say the least.

Our Founding Fathers wisely gave us three distinct branches of government, each with checks on the power of the other two. Congress' check on the president is the power of the purse. Now is the time to use it, not months from now during a debate on immigration or how best to control the border.

The funding for DHS runs out at the end of the month. It's now or never. Are those seven senators really willing to put Obama's amnesty ahead of funding our national security agencies?

Those seven senators need to be pressured to allow this bill to reach the floor. If they block this bill they are nothing but cheap political hacks for the most extreme elements of their party and should be branded as such.

Democratic leaders are demanding a "clean" DHS appropriations bill. In Demo-speak this simply means give Obama his way. For the record, there is no such thing as a clean appropriations bill. Every appropriations bill contains language stipulating how this money is to be spent. That's why we have appropriations bills, not simply blank checks.

Unfortunately, Senate leaders have proven themselves to be a bunch of incompetent slackers. Last week, they held three cloture votes on the DHS funding bill while waving the white flag of surrender behind their backs. And, we're supposed to be grateful! They never made the case for it. They never showed any resolve. Is it any wonder the Democrats held together?

Now, those Republican Senate leaders have emerged from their soft-place hidey-holes clutching their teddy bears. They are are asking the House to remove the anti-amnesty language. Please!

This is an insult to every law-abiding, taxpaying American. Voters should be letting the phones of those obstructionist Democrats and weak-kneed Republicans ring off the hook. When they feel the heat they see the light.

In truth, with time running out, Senate leaders care more about taking 10 days off than they do about funding the DHS minus amnesty funding.

The message should be: We don't care about your Valentine vacation. We care about your resolve.

Media wishing to interview Jane Chastain, please contact [email protected].