Finger-Pointing Signals Trouble for Senate Immigration Bill
WASHINGTON — The Senate debate over the immigration compromise bill was showing signs of trouble Tuesday as leaders began shifting blame to opposing sides on problems that had yet to be resolved.
Sparking the spat was Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's expected use Tuesday of a procedural motion available only to Democrats that would shut off debate on the comprehensive immigration bill. But Republicans say that move could very well kill the bill. Reid's move would come up for a vote Thursday.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell R-Ky., told reporters that Republicans will stand united against Reid if Democrats block consideration of an unspecified number of Republican amendments. Reid would need 60 votes to shut off debate, but he would fail if Republicans hang together.
Sen. Jon Kyl, a key negotiator in the immigration reform process, said he would be disappointed if Reid, D-Nev., made such a move.
"That would be extraordinarily disappointing, an extraordinary act of bad faith," Kyl, R-Nev., said. "Cutting off members rights on something so complex, so emotional, so controversial, would be an act that a true leader would want to avoid. ... I would hope cooler heads would prevail."
Generally, once this sort of heated debate breaks down into finger pointing, a bill's chances of survival are grim. But Reid has left one escape route: ...
- Immigration headed for shelf?
- Video: Reid calls illegals “12 million undocumented Americans“
- House GOP leaders cool on Bush’s immigration rhetoric
- Amnesty bill deathwatch II
- Shamnesty on the Senate floor, Allard amendment rejected, Durbin amendment passes ...
- Family ties at issue as Senate returns to immigration
- Audio: Peggy Noonan lowers the boom on Bush (DO NOT miss this one!)
- McCain Was For Amnesty Even When It Was Called Amnesty
- Shock poll: Bush’s support on immigration crumbles among Republicans
- Trashing the border
Just doing the littering Americans won't do: ...
- Backers of Immigration Bill More Optimistic
CBO: Bill would only reduce illegals by 25%
The Senate's immigration bill will only reduce illegal immigration by about 25 percent a year, according to a new Congressional Budget Office report, Stephen Dinan will report Tuesday in The Washington Times.
The bill's new guest-worker program could lead to at least 500,000 more illegal immigrants within a decade, said the report from the CBO, which said in its official cost estimate that it assumes some future temporary workers will overstay their time in the plan, adding up to a half-million by 2017 and 1 million by 2027.
"We anticipate that many of those would remain in the United States illegally after their visas expire," CBO said of the guest-worker program, which would allow 200,000 new workers a year to rotate into the country.
And in a blow to President Bush's timetable, the CBO said the "triggers" -- setting up the verification system, deploying 20,000 U.S. Border Patrol agents to duty and constructing hundreds of miles of fencing and vehicle barriers -- won't be met until 2010. ...
Ed Morrissey: CBO: Immigration Bill Wll Fail On Most Counts
Confederate Yankee: Ironclad Senate Immigration Bill Will Slow Illegal Immigration by 75-Percent, Provide Hogs With Pilot Licenses
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Read the final, expanded, version of the Dinan piece here.
Opposition to illegals bill aiding grass-roots GOP
By Ralph Z. Hallow
President Bush's immigration bill is hurting fundraising by the Republican National Committee, but fierce grass-roots opposition to the legislation is helping several state Republican parties.
Tina Benkiser, chairwoman of the Republican Party in the president's home state of Texas, says raising money has been successful "in large part to our principled stance against illegal immigration." Since the beginning of 2006, when substantial immigration debate began, she says, "the Republican Party of Texas has experienced an exponential increase in direct-mail donations from supporters statewide."
Both phone and direct-mail fundraising remain strong for the party in Michigan, says state Chairman Saul Anuzis. ...
Similar reports from other state Republican officials in Arizona, Colorado, Iowa and Delaware suggest that opposition to any form of amnesty for illegal aliens is a fundraising winner.
Read the whole thing, then don't miss Don Surber's related comments here.
