Republicans Vow To Block Immigration Reform After Shutdown Fight

House Republicans have been subtly angling for months to quash immigration reform. But after getting rolled by Democrats in the spending and shutdown fights, conservatives who call the shots in the chamber are more determined than ever to block an overhaul and imperil President Barack Obama's second-term priority.

The government shutdown fight has given House conservatives a new pretext: Obama refused to deal with us on the debt, so we won't deal with him on immigration reform.

"I know the president has said, well, gee, now this is the time to talk about immigration reform," Rep. Aaron Schock (R-IL) told TPM. "He ain't gonna get a willing partner in the House until he actually gets serious about ... his plan to deal with the debt."

And a new talking point: Obama simply wants to use immigration reform to "destroy" the GOP.

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/house-republicans-vow-to-kill-immigration-reform-after-shutdown

Tea Party Group Leader: File 'Class Action Lawsuit' Against Homosexuality

If you can't beat them, sue them.

At least that's Tea Party Unity leader Rick Scarborough's thinking, who suggested Friday that conservative activists should take a page from campaigns against Big Tobacco and file a “class action lawsuit” against homosexuality.

The far-right pastor was responding to fellow tea partier and president of Americans for Truth Peter LaBarbera, who was arguing that Fox News should tell more "stories of happy men and women who have left the homosexual lifestyle" in the same way they highlight black conservatives.

"Peter, the whole issue of a class action lawsuit, you and I have talked about this a little bit," Scarborough said. "I just wonder if you’ve explored that, talked to anyone about it. Obviously, statistically now even the Centers for Disease Control verifies that homosexuality much more likely leads to AIDS than smoking leads to cancer.

"And yet the entire nation has rejected smoking, billions of dollars are put into a trust fund to help cancer victims and the tobacco industry was held accountable for that," he added. "Any thoughts on that kind of an approach?"

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/tea-party