Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA) believes the next House Speaker must be opposed to amnesty for illegal immigrants, but acknowledged that opposing issues the GOP establishment and big-business interests covet becomes tougher as someone moves up the leadership ladder.
On Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot channel 125, Brat told guest-host and Breitbart News Washington Political Editor Matt Boyle that a “lot of the folks move up into the leadership slots and the Chamber of Commerce and the big companies that want cheap labor come into play and they put tremendous pressure and check-writing on the leadership figures.”
The Chamber of Commerce will reportedly budget $100 million to destroy the Tea Party during this election cycle, and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), the GOP’s establishment’s favored candidate to be the next Speaker, has been one of the most ardent supporters of amnesty legislation, which has even earned him the endorsement of pro-amnesty advocate Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL).
When asked about Ryan’s potential candidacy, Brat told Boyle that “we’re going to interview all the candidates on the process and on those policy issues.”
The Virginia Congressman whom Meet The Press host Chuck Todd referred to “as the man who arguably fired the first shot” of the most recent conservative revolution with his primary defeat of then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) has five policy and five process commitments on his website for the next House Speaker.
The third policy commitment for the next House Speaker is to “support policies that secure the border and enable interior enforcement while opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants.”
Brat said that “any good conservative is going to be in favor” of opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants.
He noted that nearly everybody in his district and those of of nearly every GOP Representative knows “that the illegal immigration problem lowers the wage rates for everybody.”
“The average annual incomes for the American family are down substantially over the last years and we’re feeling the pinch, so it’s just a matter of common sense—are we going to do policy that is good for American citizens or are we going to do policy that is good for big corporations?” Brat continued.
Brat added that immigrants who have waited “in line are not happy about folks who are cheating and cutting in line and breaking the law as their first act when they come into the country.”
He said the GOP establishment—like it did with the ENLIST Act that would have allowed illegal immigrant DREAMers to join the military—often schedules votes on such bills at midnight—far from the spotlight.
Brat said “if you have regular order” and put such votes “in front of the American people and Representatives, I think that vote goes down every time,” and that is one of the reasons why his Freedom Caucus wants to reform the institution.
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