Reforming the nation’s health care system is only one of President Barack Obama’s goals, and if conservatives can kill it they can stall other legislative aims, namely immigration reform, U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, said in an interview with the American Family Association’s news division.
King said if Democrats are successful in passing health care reform, the dam of legislation will break and “comprehensive amnesty” will follow soon thereafter.
Congressman Steve King, R-Iowa, ranking member of the House Immigration Subcommittee, feels health care and amnesty are two of three items on President Obama’s agenda that are somewhat linked.
“Cap and trade, which I call appropriately ‘cap and tax,’ socialized medicine, and comprehensive amnesty [are the three] — and if they can move one of those three forward, they think it gives them momentum to move the second one and then the third one,” King comments.
Obama has held meetings with U.S. Sens. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., about moving immigration reform this year. The New York Times reports that Graham warned Obama that the push would stall if Democrats attempted to pass health care reform through reconciliation, a procedural move that only requires a simple majority to pass legislation.