Opinion

Late last week a group of nearly two dozen incoming Republican congressmen (mostly Texans) gathered in front of the United States Capitol and stated emphatically that they had a detailed plan to solve the nation’s immigration problems. They promised to pass the measure once they took office in January. Passage of the plan in the House, of course, would not guarantee or even make likely a favorable vote in the Senate, but it would put an end to the Administration’s offrepeated claims that Republicans were a bunch of critics without anything substantive to offer. As I listened to speaker after speaker, it became apparent to me that they were in no hurry to lay out the specifics of that detailed plan. Presumably they were content to wait until their bill went through the amendment process before providing their opposition with ammunition to use against them. During the course of the speeches, however, a broad outline of their proposed policies took shape.