House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (and a contributor to Nick Lampson's campaign) has moved to kill an amendment that would protect employers from federal lawsuits for requiring their workers to speak English. Among the employers targeted by such lawsuits: the Salvation Army.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, a moderate Republican from Tennessee, proposed the amendment that caused some very heated debate on the floor of the House. It was puncutated by this exchange when Hispanic Caucus members threw a hissy fit:
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a moderate from Maryland, was beside himself. Congressional Quarterly reports that he jabbed his finger on the House floor at Joe Baca, the California Democrat who chairs the Hispanic Caucus, and yelled,
"How dare you destroy this party? This will be the worst loss in 10 years."
As John Fund rightly points out:
The battle over Mr. Alexander's amendment is about whether a consensus that used to unite liberals and conservatives in this country can continue to hold. If it can't, expect the issue to become a flashpoint in the 2008 elections. Republicans have their political problems with Hispanics over some of their approaches to illegal immigration, but they may be nothing compared to the problems Democrats have if they continue to cave in to their anti-assimilation extremists.
We'll keep an eye on this to see where Tricky Nick Lampson falls. In the meantime, it's an issue the CD22 GOP candidates may want to latch on to.
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