Chamber of Commerce: We'll Pull 'Out All of the Stops' to Make 2014 Year of Amnesty

The president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said his organization is willing to “pull out all of the stops” to make 2014 the year of amnesty. 

In his 2014 “State of American Business” address on Tuesday, Tom Donohue said his group will even work with left-wing unions to try to pass comprehensive immigration reform, which the Congressional Budget Office determined would lower the wages of American workers. CNBC’s Jim Cramer recently suggested that those in the permanent political class who are advocating for amnesty do not care about American workers.

“We’re determined to make 2014 the year that immigration reform is finally enacted,” Donohue said. “The Chamber will pull out all of the stops–through grassroots lobbying, communications, politics and partnerships with our friends in the unions, and faith-based organizations, and law enforcement groups and others to get this job done.”

After his speech, in a question-and-answer session with reporters, Donohue was asked: “You said 2014 is the year for immigration reform. So can you outline what you plan to do either differently or the same from 2013 to actually get things done this year?”

He said the Chamber “made a deal in the Senate” on a “cooperative basis with the AFL-CIO and with lots of other people.”

“Then we started working in the House where I believe we have received very positive response. A different way of doing business, 485 people, not just 100 of them,” he said. “And we brought in 600 people to one group, we brought in faith-based and folks from all sorts of social activities, you know, people, community leaders.”

Breitbart News’ Matt Boyle has extensively reported on the ties between the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and left-wing groups, many of which have been financed by George Soros, in trying to ram through amnesty. These groups have used astroturf protests to try to make it seem like there was more support for immigration reform than there actually is. According to a Gallup poll, only three percent of Americans think immigration reform is the country’s top priority.

Donohue also said that he believed amnesty supporters were “two-thirds of the way there” and has “been encouraged by a lot of the noise and soundings out of the House.” He said he was “not discouraged” when he wakes up in the morning and sees “a story about some reason it’s not going to work.”

“I think we’re going to get this done,” he predicted. 

As Breitbart News has reported, the Chamber is also preparing to spend $50 million to crush the Tea Party in 2014, largely because of the movement’s resistance to amnesty. President Barack Obama said it was “frustrating” he could not get his biggest 2013 goal accomplished.  Amnesty advocates had indicated that they may make a huge push to get the legislation passed, as Breitbart News reported, after the GOP primaries in the spring. Though House Republican leaders have said they would not conference on the exact Senate bill, they have given every indication that they would be more than willing to conference with the Senate on various piecemeal pieces of legislation. Should that occur, amnesty supporters and opponents have conceded that the pathway to citizenship provision would prevail.