Posted on 05/17/2006 10:18:02 AM PDT by notes2005
WASHINGTON - President Bush dispatched his political adviser, Karl Rove, to Capitol Hill to pitch skeptical Republicans in the House the idea of letting many illegal immigrants stay and to reassure them about better securign the U.S.-Mexico border.
Rove's trip to the Hill came after the Senate voted Wednesday to exclude illegal immigrants convicted of a felony or three misdemeanors from a chance at remaining in the United States under what critics say is an amnesty program.
The unanimous vote on an amendment that before Easter had been considered a "poison pill" provided added momentum for the broad immigration bill that would give legal status to millions of illegal immigrants and put many of them on a path toward citizenship.
"It's not the kind of issue you can compromise on. Either you're giving amnesty to people who are here illegally, or you aren't," said Rep. Peter King (news, bio, voting record), R-N.Y., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.
The Senate amendment by two of the bill's leading opponents, Republican Sens. Jon Kyl of Arizona and John Cornyn of Texas, was softened Tuesday in negotiations with the legislation's supporters. The sponsors agreed to include exceptions for hardship cases and those who didn't know a deportation order had been issued for them, winning the additional support.
"We want to keep those who could harm us, the criminal element, out," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), D-Mass., one of the authors of the bill. "Those who could benefit us ought to remain."
Critics of the legislation aren't giving up, however, and planned to keep trying to reshape the bill.
Sen. Jeff Sessions (news, bio, voting record), R-Ala., offered an amendment Wednesday that would erect more fencing along the nearly 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexican border, an idea similar to one in an enforcement-only bill passed by the House in December.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said Wednesday that lawmakers increasingly realize the need for a comprehensive plan that goes beyond trying to stop people at the border.
"If you just try to build a wall 30 feet high and 2,000 miles long, it will be insufficient. People will go up over it, around it, in order to get a job in this country," Frist said on CBS' "The Early Show."
Meanwhile, immigration advocates poured into Washington by the thousands to lobby lawmakers and hold a late afternoon rally within site of the Capitol and the White House.
The Senate bill authorizes additional spending on border security, a guest worker program, an eventual opportunity at citizenship for most of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the country, and tougher enforcement of laws prohibiting hiring of illegal workers. Senate passage appears likely by Memorial Day.
Opponents of granting legal status to most of the nation's illegal immigrants planned other amendments but said the big fight will occur when negotiators try to merge the Senate bill with the House's enforcement-only legislation.
"Ultimately we all understand where this bill is going to be written. It's going to be written in the conference committee between the House and the Senate," said Sen. John Cornyn (news, bio, voting record), R-Texas.
House Republicans remained unyielding in their opposition to legalization.
"Thinly veiled attempts to promote amnesty cannot be tolerated," said Rep. Tom Price of Georgia. "While America is a nation of immigrants, we are also a nation of laws, and rewarding those who break our laws not only dishonors the hard work of those who came here legally but does nothing to fix our current situation."
Bill backers on Tuesday defeated two amendments that would have gutted the Senate bill. In votes that crossed party lines, the Senate rejected 55-40 a requirement that the border be secured before other immigration changes are made. They also voted 69-28 to scuttle a Democratic amendment to exclude foreigners and recent illegal immigrants from a new guest worker program.
The Senate also approved on a voice vote an amendment reducing the number of foreigners who could participate in the guest worker program annually from at least 325,000 to no more than 200,000. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., also won approval for his proposal to add 1,000 more Border Patrol agents this year, 100 helicopters and 250 power boats.
Bush gave the debate momentum by announcing in a prime-time speech Monday a plan to deploy 6,000 National Guard troops to southwestern border states to support the Border Patrol.
The proposal to use Guard troops in the four states bordering Mexico drew mixed reaction in Congress. Pentagon officials insisted the duty would not overtax the guard or interfere with preparations for combat, but some in Congress worried it would stretch the Guard too thin.
Bush's new press secretary, Tony Snow, said Wednesday he thinks a compromise can be reached on the complex legislation.
"I think the answer is yes," Snow said when asked on NBC's "Today" show if a deal can be achieved. "In point of fact, what the president is proposing in terms of border security is more aggressive" than what the House has proposed, he said.
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
ping
How can this be? Wasn't he indicted, just last Friday?
Sorry, Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein. (;
I call and call and call and it does no good.
I have got where I call Bill Frist's office almost everyday too.
I think they are all a lost cause.
I try, but Ted Kennedy and John Kerry aren't returning my calls.
Throw up your hands and surrender, Frist. Anything but carry out your previous tough talk on this matter.
No sale, Rove.
Rove and Bush don't want to stop illegal immigration. They did nothing when Bush was governor of Texas. They did nothing for 6 years when Bush was president. They allowed the border to remain a cake walk for so many years. They refuse to prosecute employers who cheat the tax code and employ the workers here illegally. Last time I checked tax evasion was a serious crime . . . try to not pay your taxes and see what happens to you.
Anyone who comes here illegaly is going to be looking for some kind of employment, no ifs, ands or buts. If employers face a huge fine, the problem solves itself. But since noone in Washington is interested in solvig the problem, we get all kinds of crazy proposals that in the end will result in amnesty for 12 million + people.
To ALL
We have lost the Senate.
Write or call your Representative in the House!
They must hold, or life as we know it in the US will change forever.
Quit bitching and start calling or writing.
We MAY be able to stop this.
Bush send his "head Gringo advisor:" to twist house arms.
Stand your ground U.S. HOUSE!
Have you tried calling the bar?
Man, I hope they use lots of lube this time.
With the way the House GOPers are against open borders and amnesty, Rove will be lucky to get off Captial Hill with all his limbs intact. Or mayb he is going there to threaten congressmen with not giving them acces to the President, like Rove did to Tancredo a few years ago over illegal immigration.
"If you just try to build a wall 30 feet high and 2,000 miles long, it will be insufficient. People will go up over it, around it, in order to get a job in this country," Frist said on CBS' "The Early Show."
Karl Rove. That'll certainly reassure everyone. If you don't already have a crisis, send in Rove and make it one.
No, too late. Call your House members!!
Rove's rope-a-dope ploy.
By the DUmmies, yes. They have their own backwards universe. ;->
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