Rep. Paul "
no horse trading" Ryan traded a huge horse last week while trying to solidify support among House crazy caucus members for his speakership: he
signed a pledge not to push a vote on comprehensive immigration reform for the remainder of President Obama's term.
The letter, obtained exclusively by National Review, formalizes pledges that Ryan made last week in a closed-door meeting with select members of the HFC who were skeptical of his promise to maintain an “open” and “inclusive” relationship with the caucus. Specifically, it extracts Ryan’s word that he will not bring up comprehensive immigration reform “so long as Barack Obama is president” and, as speaker, Ryan will not allow any immigration bill to reach the floor for a vote unless a “majority” of GOP members support it.
Alabama representative Mo Brooks wrote the letter and will enter it into the Congressional Record on Tuesday morning. He says his intention was to record the pledges Ryan made in the meeting and earn Ryan’s confirmation that the record was accurate, so he could vote for the Wisconsin Republican in good conscience come the congressional-floor election that will determine the next speaker.
Conservative right-wing commentators
freaked out last week after a
PBS documentary exposed Ryan's quiet support for immigration reform. That just wasn't gonna fly in a party that's beholden to people like Brooks and the ever forward thinking Steve "cantaloupe calves" King.
So Ryan, whom many in the Beltway hail as a principled guy, is already taking his marching orders from the GOP's most anti-immigrant wing. That's perfect—it keeps the House GOP caucus in lockstep with the xenophobic and racist comments of Republican front-runners Ben Carson and Donald Trump. On immigration, in particular, Carson's mostly been a self-deporter in the vein of Mitt Romney. But since Trump has made self-deportation look like a rainbows-and-unicorns stance among the GOP hopefuls, watch for Carson to step up his anti-immigrant game.
Either way, Ryan has pledged to keep the GOP the party of "no." No immigration. No compromises. No solutions.
11:25 AM PT: UPDATE: