Posted on 06/08/2007 3:43:27 AM PDT by NCDragon
Dole's change helps kill bill... Senator joins vote for amendment that led to immigration reform's demise
Barbara Barrett, Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON - As proponents of the delicate immigration bill scrambled Thursday to salvage President Bush's top domestic priority, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole was doing what she could to spike it. Dole -- a Salisbury Republican and one of Bush's strongest supporters -- worked into the night to kill the comprehensive immigration reform deal teetering in the U.S. Senate.
The bill suffered a potentially fatal blow Thursday when senators voted against limiting debate on the measure.
That was nearly a day after Dole joined fellow Republican Sens. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Jim Bunning of Kentucky and Mike Enzi of Wyoming in casting decisive votes late Wednesday night on a key provision of the deal.
Dole said Thursday that she tried when the bill was first introduced to make it better, supporting amendments that shaped guest worker programs and reduced the numbers of undocumented immigrants eligible for legalization.
This week, she changed tactics: "Basically the bill comes down," she said.
Dole spent Thursday afternoon and evening talking with other GOP senators in an effort to scuttle the deal before the fatal procedural vote Thursday night.
But she made her first move late Wednesday when she switched her vote on a critical amendment that would force a guest worker program to sunset after five years.
The sunset provision, which basically doomed the comprehensive reform legislation, passed by a one-vote margin, 49-48, at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday.
Dole supports guest workers, and on May 24 she had opposed a nearly identical amendment. It narrowly failed by a vote.
Then Wednesday, she saw that a "yes" vote on the same amendment could mean the death blow for the entire reform measure.
"It came down to the point where this was really the only way," Dole said.
Dole said she was lobbied intensely by GOP leadership and the backers of the immigration reform measure not to make a move, but she changed her vote anyway.
Dole's work on immigration, buoyed by the calls of thousands of passionate constituents, has become one of her signature issues in recent weeks. Dole calls the bill's path to citizenship "amnesty," and she has tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to chip away at it.
"My view overall on all this is: What people want, and what we've heard from thousands of people, is they don't have any confidence right now with regard to securing the borders," Dole said in an interview.
"The rush shouldn't be to legalize 12 million people; the rush should be to do everything in our power to show the borders have been secured," she said. "Rush to do that. Rush to secure communities."
Polls show she's supported by most North Carolinians. An Elon University poll in April found more than 60 percent of registered voters oppose letting undocumented immigrants stay in the country, even if they have jobs.
And with Dole up for re-election in 2008, immigration could become a key issue for her.
U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican, voted against the amendment, consistent with his vote last week.
Washington correspondent Barbara Barrett can be reached at (202) 383-0012 or bbarrett@mcclatchydc.com.
Go Liz!
and thanks for listening.
Ah, Hey Liz, it's just not immigration you should be worrying about. Any time you side with moderate rino repubs, conservative voters should hold you accountable. So you better get a clue on everything else, like you did on his POS of a bill!
The Senators all heard this. Many did not want to listen, believe us, or even give us a thought. Instead they call us ignorant, bigoted, confused and on and on to excuse their own incompetence in protecting this country.
“...thanks for listening.”
one might add.......FINALY!
It ain’t dead yet. FOX News is reporting that the “Republican negotiators” expect to have the bill back up “in a couple of weeks”.
They will keep trying to ram it through and we must redouble our efforts to kill it.
404-224-3121
Dole, DeMint, Sessions... TRUE, CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS!
Nice to see our NC senators on the right side of this one.
That was nearly a day after Dole joined fellow Republican Sens. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Jim Bunning of Kentucky and Mike Enzi of Wyoming in casting decisive votes late Wednesday night on a key provision of the deal."
Bless 'em all!!!
She really can hear!
LLS
That's disappointing.
It's no wonder that contributions to the GOP are down.
Moving from NJ to NC, I know have some representation that makes some sense. Thanks Senator Dole.
THE PHONE SURGE IS WORKING! KEEP IT UP!
Secure the borders now. No one comes over without authorization. Do that first, prove it can be done. Then we will talk about amnesty for those already here. It makes sense.
It wont be done.
You got to give Elizabeth Dole her props on this one. She is absolutely right.
We need to do the basic things, controlling the border and enforcing the law, before we add on another layer.
I didn't have alot of faith in Liz, since she sleeps close to Viagara Bob, but she did well on this piece of garbage. Unfortunately, once she's reelected she'll revert back to her record which is similar to RINOs Collins and Snowe.
Third party anyone?
This is the strategy we should be following now. Even Lizzie-come-latelies should be working to take credit for killing the bill, followed by a call to close the border. It is a winning strategy for 2008.
She listens to North Carolina, to North Carolinians. Although I've not agreed with positions she or this state has taken 100% of the time, overall she’s earned my vote, my support, and my respect. She’s delivered well for North Carolina, for America.
Now Burr? I’ve got some words of advice for the fellow: “Businesses may hold a significant piece of your pocketbook, but citizens hold even more a significant piece of your career - citizens VOTE, businesses don’t.”
Hold that quote - I’ll be right back.....
Today will be interesting. We’ll get another half dozen similiar articles, placed in the media by Senators hoping to gain back home with the voters as ‘the one that killed the Amnesty bill’.
Watch and see. This is just the first one I’ve seen today, there will undoubtedly be more.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.