This Issue: With amnesty implications, Schumer moves to end legislative filibuster on voting rights bill. But that would be only the start.

Before getting into the news of the week, I'd like to thank all of our faithful NumbersUSA activists for their patience over the last two weeks while our engineering team performed much-needed and necessary upgrades to our underlying technical systems.

As many of you know, NumbersUSA.com has been around since the late 1990s, the infancy of the internet. Several of our existing systems that we provide for our users were developed more than a decade ago and technology has changed dramatically over the years.

Over the last two weeks, not only did our engineering team upgrade the systems that host our website, send your immigration messages to Congress, deliver this newsletter to your inbox, along with much, much more, but they also rewrote years of code that support those systems so it would be compatible with a modern infrastructure.

While you may not notice any visible changes over the next few months, these upgrades will make it much easier to develop new features and update our website.

SCHUMER PUSHES TO END THE LEGISLATIVE FILIBUSTER

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has eliminated next week's Senate recess to address one of the most significant rules, if not the most significant rule in Congress -- the Senate's use of the legislative filibuster. The filibuster requires that most legislation in the Senate receive 60 votes in order to pass, to ensure broad (and usually some bipartisan) support.

While Schumer says he is attempting to eliminate the filibuster only to pass election reform legislation, that may only be the start.

Remember, back in 2013 when then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) eliminated the filibuster for confirming most federal judges. A few years later, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) used that precedence to eliminate the filibuster for confirming Supreme Court justices.

So if Schumer and Senate Democrats successfully eliminate the filibuster for election reform, what else will they be willing to lift the filibuster for? That's where immigration comes in.

Pres. Joe Biden has been consistent in saying that one of his top priorities is immigration reform that includes an amnesty for most illegal aliens living in the United States, eliminates most enforcement, and massively expands legal immigration. If Senate Democrats are willing to carve out an exemption to the filibuster for one of Biden's other top priorities (election reform), why wouldn't they also use it to pass his other top priorities?

Fortunately, Schumer's attempt next week is expected to fall short. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) tells reporters multiple times each day that he won't vote to eliminate the filibuster. And yesterday, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) delivered a speech on the Senate floor clearly stating her opposition to eliminating the filibuster, so Schumer doesn't appear to have the votes.

Still, we'll be following next week's events closely to see if Manchin or Sinema waiver on their stated positions.

HOW DID WE GET HERE?

Before the holidays, the Senate Parliamentarian ruled that the Democrat's 'Plan C' amnesty proposal that they hoped to include in the Build Back Better budget reconciliation bill would violate Senate rules. This was just another one of many setbacks suffered by Senate Democrats at the hands of the Parliamentarian -- the Senate rules arbiter.

There's been an enormous amount of pressure applied to Senate Democrats from outside advocacy groups to pass a mass amnesty for illegal aliens. With the Senate Parliamentarian killing every single proposal presented by Senate Democrats, the only way they can satisfy the demands of the pro-amnesty groups is to eliminate the legislative filibuster -- or to fire or over-rule the Parliamentarian.

Thankfully, NumbersUSA activists have helped offset the pressure applied by the pro-amnesty groups by applying their own pressure on their elected officials. That pressure certainly helped Sens. Manchin and Sinema arrive at their decisions to stand strong in defense of the legislative filibuster.

While we move closer to safety from Congress passing immigration expansion legislation that would be detrimental to American workers, a new battle is on the horizon. Congress must pass spending legislation in February to avoid a government shutdown, and Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) is looking to stuff provisions into the spending bill that would all but eliminate immigration enforcement along the border and in the interior. We'll continue to monitor the spending legislation as it develops and provide action opportunities when needed.

Chris Chmielenski NumbersUSA Deputy Director