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Move Over ObamaPhone: 844-Page Immigration Bill Funds New 'MarcoPhone'

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Photo Credit: Shark Tank

With the new ‘Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act’ finally being filed in the U.S. Senate, concerns over how much money the immigration reform bill will cost an already debt-ridden United States continues to swirl among Americans who are already strapped for cash.

According to the newly filed bill, immigrants who are allowed to enter the United States under a work visa, will be ‘granted’ a taxpayer funded cellular phone. Move over “Obama phone,” we present the new ‘Hola, Como Estas?!’ MarcoPhone.

Here is the actual mention of the free phones in the bill-

SEC. 1107. ACCESS TO EMERGENCY PERSONNEL. (a) SOUTHWEST BORDER REGION EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS GRANTS.—

The Secretary, in consultation with the governors of the States in the Southwest Border region, shall establish a 2-year grant program, to be administered by the Secretary, to improve emergency communications in the Southwest

ELIGIBILITY FOR GRANTS.—An individual is eligible to receive a grant under this subsection if the individual demonstrates that he or she— (A) regularly resides or works in the Southwest Border region; is at greater risk of border violence due to the lack of cellular service at his or her residence or business and his or her proximity to the Southern border. (3) USE OF GRANTS.—Grants awarded under this subsection may be used to purchase satellite telephone communications systems and service that— (A) can provide access to 9–1–1 service; and (B) are equipped with global positioning

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Rubio Works on Selling Conservative Skeptics on 'Secret' Immigration Bill

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Photo Credit: Andrew Harnik

Immigration draft lays out contentious points plan to reward, select immigrants

By Stephen Dinan and David Eldridge. The immigration reform bill that senators are writing in secret would move U.S. policy to a points-based system that would reward immigrants who are taking care of disabled parents at the same level as those who have earned master’s degrees in high-tech fields, according to a draft of the legislation reviewed by The Washington Times.

The eight senators writing the bill plan to announce provisions this week, ahead of a major hearing in the SenateJudiciary Committee on Wednesday, but some details already have been leaked. Among them is the points system to select immigrants.

Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican, said his plan would make illegal immigrants wait years to gain citizenship. Republican leaders are counting on Mr. Rubio to sell the plan to skeptical conservatives.

“This is not amnesty. Amnesty is the forgiveness of something,” Mr. Rubio said on “Fox News Sunday.” “We’re going to create an alternative that says, ‘OK, you want to stay here, you’ll have to wait more than 10 years, you’ll have to pay this fine, you’ll have to pay your registration fee, you’ll have to be gainfully employed, you won’t qualify for any federal benefits, and then after all of that you don’t get to apply for anything until the enforcement mechanisms are in place.’”

Mr. Rubio made the rounds of all of the major Sunday political talk shows to pitch the legislation. His appearances marked what one immigration rights advocate called “opening day” for what is expected to be a bruising fight on Capitol Hill. Read more from this story HERE.

Rubio: Illegal immigrants won’t get welfare

By Joel Gehrke. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said that the gang of eight’s immigration proposal will not allow legalized immigrants to receive federal benefits such as welfare or the Obamacare coverage.

“[T]hey don’t qualify for any federal benefits,” Rubio said on Fox News Sunday of the current illegal immigrants slated for legalization under the proposal he helped write. “This is an important point. No federal benefits, no food stamps, no welfare, no ObamaCare. They have to prove they’re gainfully employed. They have to be able to support themselves, so they’ll never become a public charge.”

Republicans on the Senate Budget Committee had suggested that the proposal would add trillions in federal spending because “there is nothing in the framework to apply federal public charge law to those in the country illegally before they are granted legal status.” The committee staff also recalled that Immigrations and Custom Enforcement union president Chris Crane said that officers “are not permitted to enforce that statute.” Read more from this story HERE.

Rand Paul Wins The Washington Times-CPAC 2013 Straw Poll

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Photo Credit: ANDREW HARNIK

Sen. Rand Paul won the 2013 Washington Times-CPAC presidential preference straw poll Saturday, and Sen. Marco Rubio was a close second, easily outdistancing the rest of the field and signaling the rise of a new generation of conservative leaders who will take the Republican Party into the 2016 election.

Mr. Paul won 25 percent of the vote, and Mr. Rubio collected 23 percent. Former Sen. Rick Santorum was third with just 8 percent, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — who was not invited to speak at the three-day Conservative Political Action Conference — was next with 7 percent, and Rep. Paul D. Ryan, the GOP’s vice presidential nominee last year, was fifth with 6 percent.

Mr. Paul’s victory puts him in the footsteps of his father, former Rep. Ron Paul, who won in 2010 and 2011.

“I’ve been standing with Rand since I came out of the womb,” said Austin Alexander, a 26-year-old consultant from New York who voted for the senator in the straw poll and who volunteered for the elder Mr. Paul’s campaign in 2012. Mr. Alexander said he believes the GOP is moving in the direction the Pauls espouse.

Mr. Rubio, meanwhile, won the hearts of more traditional conservatives. “I’ve been a supporter for Marco, like a lot of people, since the first time I heard the guy speak,” said Gary Kim, 62, from Colorado, who described himself as a social conservative and said Mr. Rubio can deliver that message in a way previous candidates such as Mr. Santorum could not.

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Bid To Defund Obamacare Gains Momentum In Senate GOP

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Photo Credit: Washington Examiner

This week it appeared Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee would wage a lonely war over their threat to hold up a continuing resolution to fund the U.S. government if they are not given a vote on a budget amendment to defund Obamacare. Now, it’s not quite so lonely. Sens. Marco Rubio and James Inhofe have joined Cruz and Lee, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Friday that he “looks forward to supporting” the amendment.

It’s a significant step forward for Cruz and Lee. But the Senate Republican caucus remains deeply divided about defunding Obamacare. Sources say that at a Republican caucus lunch a few days ago, several GOP senators expressed opposition to Cruz and Lee’s proposal. And of course, the 55-member Democratic majority will not give it the time of day. But Cruz and Lee are determined to keep up opposition to Obamacare, even though it has flagged in some other quarters of the Republican Party.

And in Rubio, the two have an ally sure to bring a higher profile to the cause. The continuing resolution fight is “a perfect opportunity for us to have a debate once again on Obamacare,” Rubio told radio host Hugh Hewitt Friday. “I don’t think there’s been enough attention paid to it. It’s been awhile, we’ve moved onto these other issues, but there is, right now out there, probably nothing more damaging to our economy in the short term than this implementation of Obamacare.”

Read more from this story HERE.

RebRANDing: New GOP Emerges

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Photo Credit: Breitbart On Wednesday, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) served notice to both the Republican establishment and to the Democrat-Media Complex: conservatism isn’t gone. It’s not even on vacation. The new wave of conservatives is here, and they know how to play the game.

At approximately 11:47 a.m. EST, Paul took to the floor of the Senate to filibuster the nomination of counterterrorism czar John Brennan for CIA Director. Paul stated his reason specifically and clearly: the Obama administration has refused to answer question as to whether they believe it is acceptable under the Constitution to kill American citizens on US soil using drones if those citizens are not engaged in an immediate terrorist threat. Paul was broader than that, actually – he simply asked the administration for a set of rules that could be used to limit their power to execute American citizens here at home. Over and over again, the administration refused to turn over the legal memos detailing its policies.

And so Paul talked. And boy, did he talk. For nearly 13 hours, he talked, taking breaks only when spelled by Senators including fellow Tea Partiers Mike Lee (R-UT), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Pat Toomey (R-PA). Even an honest Democrat – apparently the only one in the chamber – got into the act: Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR). Citing everyone from left to right, Paul pointed out the hypocrisy of an administration ripping into waterboarding of terrorists but happy to target them for death from the skies. He asked repeatedly why the administration could not answer his simple question about the boundaries of government power. And the American people listened.

It was an astonishing demonstration of the power of ideas. Paul spoke directly to the American people from the floor of the Senate. No media interrogators. No Obama functionaries. No spin machine. He was not strident, but he was firm. “No American should ever be killed in their house without warrant and some kind of aggressive behavior by them,” said Paul. “To be bombed in your sleep? There’s nothing American about that … [President Obama] says trust him because he hasn’t done it yet. He says he doesn’t intend to do so, but he might. Mr. President, that’s not good enough … so I’ve come here to speak for as long as I can to draw attention to something that I find to really be very disturbing …

“I will not sit quietly and let him shred the Constitution …. The point isn’t that anyone in our country is Hitler. But what I am saying is that in a democracy you could somehow elect someone who is very evil … When a democracy gets it wrong, you want the law to be in place.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Rubio Introduces Bill to Stop Secret Abortions on Teenagers

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Photo Credit: Life NewsSenator Marco Rubio is introducing a a major pro-life bill, the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act, today that would stop secret abortions on teenagers.

The bill would require an abortion practitioner to notify a parent before performing an abortion on a minor who resides in a different state. It would also make it a crime for a non-parent to transport a minor across state lines to evade a parental notification law.

National Right to Life originally helped develop the bill in 2005 and the House of Representatives approved it 2005 and again in 2006, but died in the Senate when most Democratic senators supported a filibuster.

In a February 12 letter urging senators to co-sponsor the new bill, NRLC said, “Parental notification or parental consent laws, consistent with existing Supreme Court case law, are in effect in more than half the states. However, these laws are often circumvented — activity that is actively encouraged by abortion clinics’ out-of-state advertising in non-notification states, highlighting the avoidance of parental notification as a selling point. Only Congress has the authority to deal with this interstate activity, and the CIANA would do so.”

In the House of Representatives, the CIANA will be re-introduced by Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, also a Florida Republican. During the 2011-2012 Congress, her bill gathered 172 cosponsors in the House.

Read more from this story HERE.

Going Rove on the Tea Party? Marco Rubio Says Former Bush Strategists’ SuperPAC is ‘Good Idea’

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Photo Credit: APSen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) gave a strong defense of GOP strategist Karl Rove’s Conservative Victory Project in a recent interview, arguing that the super PAC offshoot, designed to quash conservative Senate candidates who might be too extreme to win general elections, was sensible.

Speaking with David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network, Rubio was asked if he thought Rove’s endeavor was a “good idea.”

“Yes,” Rubio responded, going on to explain that Rove and his American Crossroads super PAC had been some of his biggest supporters during his rapid rise and eventual victory in his 2010 Senate race.

Rubio also gave credit to the Tea Party supporters that backed him, saying that both Rove’s group and conservative activists “have a place in American politics.”

Rove’s new election effort has quickly highlighted rifts in the GOP’s foundation. Tea Party activists have largely regarded it as a direct affront to their broader goal of putting forth highly conservative candidates. While Rove has pointed to Senate candidates such as Missouri’s Todd Akin and Indiana’s Richard Mourdock — both of whose campaigns suffered irreversible damage after offensive comments about rape — as a justification for his project, Tea Party activists have countered, arguing that Rove’s new push would have clipped the wings of successful candidates like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rubio before they could take off.

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: CNN Absurdly Asks If Rubio’s Sip of Water Was ‘Career-Ender’

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Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore“So can a drink of water make or break a political career?” Blitzer asked. “A U.S. Senator, possible presidential candidate. We’re going to find out, whether he likes it or not.”

The fact that a major media outlet could even pose such a question does more to expose the utter vacuous nature of the modern world than anything.

The lines have been blurred between make-believe and reality to such an extent that petulant children in the press demand showbiz at it’s best, while completely ignoring substantive public discourse.

No wonder the media cheerleads a “leader of the free world” whose persona can be summed up by a teleprompter and fist bump.

Serious public discourse, and a real record of accomplishment be damned. Lies, incompetency, and scandal. Never mind. He’s “cool” (whatever that means), and he can read a teleprompter like no other.

Meanwhile, the middle class guy who believes in free markets and seeks to engage in adult conversation is finished. And what did him in? “Watergate,” of course. The guy had an awkward moment on TV, and gasp, took a drink of water in the middle of his speech. So unpresidential!

See the media’s manufactured scandal below:

Visit Media Research Center HERE.

Rubio: More Government Breeds More Problems (+video)

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Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore Responding to President Obama’s State of the Union address on behalf of the Republican Party, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., tonight made the case that the president’s calls for government investments are misguided and potentially destructive.

While agreeing with the president on some issues and taking an optimistic tone for the future, Rubio sought to offer a conservative alternative to the president’s agenda, one which takes decision-making out of Washington.

Opportunity, Rubio said, “it isn’t bestowed on us from Washington. It comes from a vibrant free economy where people can risk their own money to open a business.”

In his address before a joint session of Congress, Mr. Obama told lawmakers, “We need to build new ladders of opportunity into the middle class for all who are willing to climb them.” The president laid out a series of actions Washington can take to revive the economy, including investments in the private sector. Rubio, however, charged tonight that Mr. Obama considers a free enterprise economy as “the cause of our problems.”

“His solution to virtually every problem we face is for Washington to tax more, borrow more and spend more,” Rubio said of the president. “And the idea that more taxes and more government spending is the best way to help hardworking middle class taxpayers – that’s an old idea that’s failed every time it’s been tried. More government isn’t going to help you get ahead. It’s going to hold you back. More government isn’t going to create more opportunities. It’s going to limit them.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Rubio To Give Bilingual Response To Obama’s SOTU

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In an attempt to broaden the Republican Party’s appeal to minorities, particularly Hispanics, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio will deliver the Republican response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday in both English and Spanish.

In announcing Rubio’s selection, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said Rubio’s “family’s story is a testament to the promise and greatness of America,” and “he’ll deliver a GOP address that speaks from the heart to the hopes and dreams of the middle class; to our party’s commitment to life and liberty; and to the unlimited potential of America when government is limited and effective.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said Rubio was a “natural choice.”

“Marco’s own experience as the child of immigrants has always informed his belief in limited government and free enterprise, which is why he has helped lead the fight against out-of-control spending and job-destroying tax hikes that continue to hold our economy back and stifle opportunity for millions,” McConnell said.

Rubio said he would discuss in his response how “limited government and free enterprise have helped make my family’s dreams come true in America” and lay out the “Republican case of how our ideas can help people close the gap between their dreams and the opportunities to realize them.”

Read more from this story HERE.