WASHINGTON – The Democrats who make up the Massachusetts delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives walk in lockstep on many issues, but when it comes to immigration, one toes a different line.
Rep. Bill Keating, a former Norfolk County prosecutor whose ninth district encompasses much of the South Shore and all of Cape Cod and the islands, was the only one of the nine House members from the Bay State to back a measure blocking certain federal grants and law-enforcement funding for "sanctuary cities." That designation is used for municipalities that refuse to dedicate local resources to enforcing federal immigration law.
Paul D. Ryan's election as the 54th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives provides Republicans an important opportunity to prove that they are the party of ideas, political sobriety, and prudent statecraft. In the coming weeks, Mr. Ryan's task will become clear: he must promote a genteel, inclusive conservatism; the big tent, if you will, under which political conservatives (broadly defined) have labored since the end of the Second World War.
Ryan is a man with deep conservative principles who is, yet, grounded in the practical day-to-day realities of governing. This is precisely what the GOP needs as it attempts to undue the damage of the last decade of liberal excess and prepares for the next election cycle.
