You Get What You Vote For- I Hope the GOP Follows Senator Sessions to a Shutdown

Democrats could have had a problem in 2016. You see, Democrats did everything they could on immigration reform, passing the bill out of the Senate, but it died in the House. As with most things, it's hard to explain to the public how bad the House sucks at it's job, so Democrats could have struggled to explain to Hispanic voters who largely vote Democratic and care about this issue, why it is that they have been ineffective on delivering on this issue. President Obama knows that, and therefore is talking about issuing an executive order on as much of the reform package as possible, then letting the chips fall where they may. While that would have been delivering for a large group of constituents who need it, it also would have enraged the white, Republican base vote too. Sure, that is a shrinking group as a percentage of the whole country, but they're the most consistent voters, so it has it's drawbacks, and it would require the President to get out and push his message to his base of voters, something that has happened with mixed results.

Enter a white guy from Alabama, a new Republican Majority, and the same failed House.

The President will press this issue right into December, allowing the House every opportunity to vote on this bill, and the House will obviously not do it, because they are lazy freeloaders the Speaker sucks at his job their angry, white base won't allow them to pass this law. The President will then sign his executive order, and the Republicans will be mad. You see though, if it stopped there, they'd be fine. No though, the GOP now runs the Senate, and because of that, an angry, arch-conservative Senator from Alabama named Jeff Sessions now actually matters. He's the Senate Budget Committee Chairman, and he wants to publicly have a bare-knuckle brawl over immigration:

In an op-ed Monday for Politico magazine, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), currently ranking member of the committee, said it would be "unthinkable" for Congress to pass a long-term spending bill that doesn't block funding for Obama's expected actions to free some immigrants from the threat of deportation.

"President Obama’s executive amnesty ... cannot be implemented if Congress simply includes routine language on any government funding bill prohibiting the expenditure of funds for this unlawful purpose," wrote Sessions, a longtime foe of immigration reform.

This strategy is similar to the one that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) persuaded Republicans to adopt in 2013 in a quest to defund Obamacare. It did not work: Obama held firm, the government shut down, and 16 days later Republicans backed down and agreed to fund Obamacare along with the rest of the federal government.

While Sessions's language on immigration now echoes Cruz's language on Obamacare in 2013, advocates of the Alabama Republican's strategy point out that unlike Obamacare, the immigration bill never passed Congress. So this time they wouldn't be using the funding process to change the law, they'd be using it to maintain the law as it's currently being enforced.

"Why would any member of Congress who opposes executive amnesty provide President Obama the funds to carry it out? A Republican majority must force congressional Democrats to answer this question through their votes," Sessions wrote.

He added: "We cannot yield to open borders. We cannot let one executive edict erase the immigration laws of an entire nation. If we believe America is a sovereign country, with enforceable boundaries, and a duty to protect its own people, then we have no choice but to fight and to win."

Yes, GOP, please do! We would absolutely love for you to do this. Send a spending bill to the White House that Democrats can't possibly go for, and have the President veto it, sparking a shut down right after you won the Senate. Perfect! Also, energize a voting block that gave President Obama over 70% in 2012. If Hispanic-Americans lock in at 70% for Democratic Presidential nominees, the GOP doesn't have enough white voters to overcome that margin. In other words, make a fool of your new majority, and help us elect Hillary Clinton. It's the best thing you've done for your country in a generation.