Reps. Jeff Denham, Luis Gutierrez, and Mike Coffman came together today at the House Triangle to talk about the ENLIST Act, Jeff Denham’s bill to allow DREAMers to join the military, and why Republicans should pass it. While Gutierrez is a longtime champion of immigration reform and Denham should be commended for his pursuit of the ENLIST Act (and support of HR 15), there’s something disingenuous about Mike Coffman sharing the stage with those two.
Coffman supports a path to citizenship for immigrants and supports DREAMers joining the military. That’s about it. He’s done nothing to push the House GOP to pass immigration reform — and worse, voted against immigrants every single time an opportunity came up in the House. Let’s review his scorecard:
Not exactly a sterling record. In fact, as folks in Colorado have been reminding it, it was Coffman who appeared at a Denver fundraiser with Speaker Boehner and GOP Leader Eric Cantor just last week (on the very same day that Eric Cantor announced that the House would not be taking up the ENLIST Act). What are the chances that Coffman spent some of that fundraising time prompting Boehner and Cantor for their support on ENLIST — and immigration reform? Isn’t that what a real champion would do?
As Colorado Pols writes, it’s highly unlikely that Coffman did, because he’s taken no action, ever, to really demonstrate his support for immigration reform:
Above all, if Coffman had managed even once in all the time since his “conversion” on immigration reform to put his newfound principles into action, this might be a plausible series of events. But when Coffman had the chance to protect same DREAMer students he’s using as props today, he voted against them. Both of the other co-sponsors of the ENLIST Act Coffman is appearing with today are also co-sponsors of the comprehensive immigration reform bill, H.R. 15–a bill that Coffman opposes.
Today, Mike Coffman wants you to believe he’s angry about Majority Leader Eric Cantor killing the ENLIST Act–but not enough to disrupt his fundraising schedule?
Why should anyone give Coffman the benefit of the doubt at this point?
