Republicans Play Politics, Refuse to Govern
Washington, DC—In the wake of President Obama’s remarks on how to deal with the ongoing humanitarian crisis at the U.S. border, it’s become evident that Republicans are far more interested in politicking off the plight of child refugees fleeing unspeakable violence than they are in governing and working to pass any sort of reasonable policy solutions.
The latest line of GOP argument is best characterized in a new piece from Steve Benen of MSNBC entitled, “On immigration, complaining is easy; governing is hard.” He writes:
Republicans want a response to the problem, but apparently, if the White House has a new plan, the GOP isn’t inclined to approve it. The Republican reaction to the proposal, as of this morning, is ‘almost universally negative.’ All of which leads to a straightforward question: do Republicans want a solution to the crisis or do they want to complain about the crisis. They can’t have both…The White House is offering a policy solution, but no photo-op. Republicans want a photo-op, but no policy solution. It would appear we have another count in the indictment against the GOP as a post-policy party.
That sentiment does not stand alone. Political analysts and editorial boards alike are drawing the same conclusion.
As Greg Sargent of the Washington Post writes:
How do Republicans continue decrying the crisis while denying the funding to address it, without revealing that they are wholly uninterested in participating in basic problem solving? …Republicans don’t want to provide the funding for the expedited removals they say they want because it would ‘help’ Obama ‘get out’ of a political ‘situation,’ never mind whether it would help solve the problem.
And as the USA editorial board adds:
Let’s call the Republican response what it is: a tactical decision to let a problem fester for political reasons. As long as the problem exists, hard-liners will be able to blame it on proposals to overhaul the nation’s broken immigration laws. All of the talk of a path to citizenship is prompting people to come here before the law is passed, or so goes the argument. That is highly debatable, at best.
Meanwhile, as the Republican complaints and immigration demagoguery continue, a new front page story from Frances Robles in the New York Times details the alarming increase in child murders and the paralyzing gang culture on the rise in Central American countries.
According to Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice:
We’re in the midst of a humanitarian crisis affecting kids fleeing gang violence, extortion and rape. But the GOP seems more interested in perpetuating their memes than in approving needed resources. This is an abdication of their responsibility to govern, and a cruel way to deal with the fate of thousands of child refugees.
