The executive branch and the democratic controlled U.S. Senate are functioning while the republican controlled U.S. House is not and is polarized by the Tea Party republicans and the establishment republicans. (See Note 1.) The Tea Party republicans want to be know as the true conservatives and say so, and the establishment republicans who represent the majority in their party are afraid to use their authority to bring the important issues facing the country to a debate and vote in the U.S. House.
A new immigration problem is in progress concerning thousands of children from Central America crossing the border to seek refuge in the U.S. The republicans answer is, "its Obama's fault." This new problem would be a flea if congress would have passed immigration reform long ago. It existed under previous administrations and the Bush administration built a partial fence in a section of the border between Mexico and the U.S. But congress did not see fit to pass immigration reform during that administration even though the republicans controlled the White House and both houses of congress during Bush's first 6 years in office.
The President is asking congress for $3.7 million in emergency funding to handle the children's problem that is taking place now. Congress should approve this quickly and then John Boehner should reverse his decision not to take up immigration reform until after the end of the year and pass the U.S. Senate's bill that is a tough and fair bill. That bill does not have amnesty in it like the republicans would like the people to believe. Another immediate problem concerns the Veterans Administration. The U.S. Senate passed the Veterans Care Act by a whopping 93-3 vote that takes care of many of the disclosed problems at the VA, but the republicans in the House is also sitting on that bill becAuse of the cost involved. Never mind that they did not care about the cost of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that started on their watch. Those wars are the reason so many new veterans flooded the VA system and now House republicans say they are concerned about the cost of the Veterans Care Act. Let John Boehner sue those U.S. officials who told the American people the Iraq war would be paid for by Iraq's oil. Does any one remember that?
The republican party has a chance to do the right thing on the President's $3.7 million request. It is not too late for them to do something positive concerning this problem.
Note 1: The Tea Party defines the establishment republicans as those who came into congress before they did.
This commentary written by John Lucia
