I’m generally not fond of linking to press releases from politicians, but I thought this list of items in the immigration bill recently passed by the U.S. Senate was pretty interesting. My favorites:

Under the bill, illegal aliens get an option to only have to pay three of their last five years in back taxes. Law-abiding American citizens do not have the option to pay some of their taxes. [...]

[E]mployers of aliens applying for adjustment of status “shall not be subject to civil and criminal tax liability relating directly to the employment of such alien.” Businesses that hired illegal workers would now get off scott-free from paying the taxes that they owe the government.

Only having to pay taxes for only 3 out of every 5 years you work? Hey, I’d love a deal like that!

The folks who raise hell any time a tax cut is proposed seem remarkably silent on this. I guess they only like taxes when the money comes out of the pockets of legal Americans and companies that don’t break our immigration laws. I wonder if there are any other laws I could break to get my tax bill cut by 40%.

But what’s happened to the Republican Party? While 32 Republicans voted against the bill, 20 voted to pass it. A significant bloc of Senate Republicans clearly found this bill palatable.

Democrats can be expected to vote for such things; indeed, only four Democrats voted against it. But during campaign seasons, Republicans are usually the ones who claim to oppose placing undue burdens on law-abiding taxpayers. Are they afraid of being called racists? Or are they hoping that when today’s illegals become citizens in the future, the Panderpublicans will end up with that vote?

For years, I’ve heard people on the left complain that there is really only one party in Washington, it just operates under two names. I’m beginning to see what they mean.