Rep. Steve Stockman calls out immigration bill as unconstitutional

Texas Congressman Steve Stockman, one-term hell raiser from the 1994 wave who returned to the House in 2012, has urged Speaker Boehner to “blue slip” the Senate immigration bill.

A blue slip is used by the House when it is deemed that taxing and spending measures did not originate in the House itself. If used, it would return the bill to the Senate.

Here is the letter by Stockman to Boehner:

Dear Mr. Speaker,

When the House of Representatives receives S. 744, I hereby request that you raise a point of order that the legislation violates the origination clause of the United States Constitution; that “all Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives.”

Although there are other provisions in the bill which are in violation of the prerogatives of the House, the most obvious is section 2102 which requires the payment of certain taxes and forgives the payment of other taxes as a condition of receiving benefits under this legislation.

The Congressional Budget Office analysis of S. 744, dated June 18, 2013, on page 44 states in part that “enacting S. 744 would have a wide range of effects on federal revenues, including changes in collections of income and payroll taxes, certain visa fees that are classified as revenues, and various fines and penalties. Taken together, those effects would increase revenues by $459 billion over the 2014-2023 period, according to estimates by JCT and CBO.”

Therefore, I urge you to protect the origination clause and the intent of the Constitution by using the ‘blue slip’ to return S. 744 to the Senate.

I am grateful for your service to our nation in upholding the Constitution.

Warmest Regards,

Steve Stockman

Kudos to Congressman Stockman and his staffers for even being able to find these provisions within a 1,200 page monstrosity.