Reps. Kingston and Doolittle on Line Item Veto, Immigration
Congressmen Jack Kingston and John Doolittle today conducted a conference call with conservative bloggers.
Kingston noted that the line item veto would be on the floor tomorrow. He granted that some appropriators would vote against it but said that he and Doolittle, both appropriators, would vote for it.
Regarding the House’s plans for hearings on immigration, the plan is to come back after August and work on a bill that can pass Congress. Doolittle says the hearings are necessary to “understand what really is in the Senate bill.”
John Hawkins asked if the hearings strategy meant the bill was dead for the year. Kingston said he “hopes not” and that he “sure as heck would not support this if this were just a way to let it die slowly.”
I asked the Congressmen if they were content with coming back from the summer and passing another tough border security bill even if it meant no final bill coming from Congress. They both appeared to be comfortable with the possibility and noted the political unpopularity of the Senate’s amnesty bill. “I would hate to pin my reelection and the House majority on the Senate’s [position],” said Kingston.
Kingston and Doolittle acknowledge there may be a need to “forcefeed the Senate” on the issue of immigration by swaying public opinion over the summer. “We also find seperating ourselves from the Senate is helpful,” said Kingston. Doolittle noted the institutional difference between the House and Senate: only one third of the Senate is facing the voters in the fall, everyone in the House is. Kingston thinks that, “Seperating ourselves from the Senate the closer we get to November may be standard operating procedure.”