Posted on 05/11/2006 3:16:00 PM PDT by Revel
Senators Agree to Revive Immigration Bill
By SUZANNE GAMBOA, Associated Press Writer Thu May 11, 11:02 AM ET
WASHINGTON - Senate leaders reached a deal Thursday on reviving a broad immigration bill that could provide millions of illegal immigrants a chance to become American citizens and said they'll try to pass it before Memorial Day.
The agreement brokered by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and Minority Harry Reid, D-Nev., breaks a political stalemate that has lingered for weeks while immigrants and their supporters held rallies, boycotts and protests to push for action.
Key to the agreement is who will be negotiating a compromise with the House, which last December passed an enforcement-only bill that would subject the estimated 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States to felony charges as well as deportation.
Frist said the Senate will send 14 Republicans and 12 Democrats to negotiate with the House, with seven of the Republicans coming from the Judiciary Committee and seven of the Democrats chosen by Reid.
Frist said a "considerable" number of amendments would be debated when the Senate begins debating the bill early next week.
It would be the most comprehensive rewrite of immigration laws since the so-called Simpson-Mazzoli bill some 20 years ago.
Sigh.
Make no mistake, we are about to be sold out. Only the House can stop amnesty. IMHO
Well at least the nation want be held hostage by the black vote any longer.
Is that what they think Americans want?
I think that some of these folks must have been kicked out of kindergarten because they couldn't scribble.
Revive? It should be DOA so pull the plug, do not resuscitate!
Let's see how this works.
Senate passes amnesty bill, letting illegals cut in line for citizenship ahead of people who patiently applied legally from outside.
House passes sensible border security oriented bill.
it goes to house/senate conference committee, where Frist JUST AGREED TO GIVE DEMOCRATS INFLUENCE OVER THE BILL HAMMERED OUT THERE, which gets us a sell out amnesty bill again.
The sell out conference committee bill easily passes in the Senate, then the House is the only hope of stopping it. That's when conservatives need to lobby hard and apply pressure
I think that conservatives sense that Bush's lunacy on immigration threatens everything that we have worked for over the past 50 years. Visionaries like Wm. F. Buckley, Goldwater and Reagan created and explained a world view that differed drastically with the social welfare state view of the Dims of the day, and also differed significantly with the Republican party that existed pre-FDR, which was isolationist and did not have an economic or governmental philosophy that was as carefully defined as the GOP's became by the time of Reagan. Low taxes, smaller government, less bureaucracy, federalism, individual rights versus group rights, respect for religion in civic life, a whole gamut of ideas and policies that have proven to be far more effective in governing this still great country.
Slowly but steadily, we won people over. By the late 60's, we had an emerging GOP majority in national elections. Nixon's Watergate gave us Carter by a hair, but Reagan corrected that with gusto four years later. We continued to win the intellectual battles, as socialism failed in place after place, and the US economy showed that capitalism works best. Clinton was the exception that proved the rule, a minority president who won only by siphoning off the populist voters with Perot and only because he pretended to be a centrist AND only because the new conservative majority was so pissed at Bush because he clearly was not a conservative.
But the pain of a Clinton victory was softened because it helped the American people decide it was finally time to jettison the Dem congress that had prevented Republicans from doing much in office to actually change the leftist/socialist mixed economy that was erected unconstitutionally in the 30s under FDR. Now, we had the Congress, and with W's election in 2000, we might actually be able to accomplish things.
Well, Bush has done very little to advance the conservative agenda. His best efforts in that regard are his Supreme Court picks, which (other than the Miers fiasco) were fantastic. But on government spending, bureaucracy, immigration and a host of other things, Bush is indistinguishable from Clinton. Name one executive order of Clinton's that Bush reversed on his own, from the Utah land grab to the "wall" between justice and the FBI. He left Clinton's people in State, CIA, Justice, the Pentagon.
The war on terror has been listless at best. He should have gone into Iraq one year earlier, as Steyn has written, and as I was saying at the time, not just with hindsight. He should have been more forceful with Syria, instead of letting them attack us from the rear. He should have been actively arming Iranian freedom fighters in the hills of the north since 2002, and fomenting rebellion there, which even if unsuccessful, would tie up those mullahs so they couldn't be causing trouble in Iraq. He should be more active in Waziristan, and if it means venturing into Pakistan once in a while in hot pursuit of AQ, so be it. Stuff it Mushareff. And as a security issue, the border is a joke.
But is is as a cultural and political issue that the border is most threatening to Americans. Suppose that the numbers are right, that there are 12 million illegals in the US right now. If legalized, those people are going to be Democrat voters for at least 3 generations, based on simple demographics. There are enough of them now to sway elections in states that are getting closer, such as Arizona, Nevada, Colorado. They will swell Rat voter rolls in Rat states like California, New Mexico, and as far away as Pennsylvania, Ohio and Louisiana. Even in GOP states, like Texas, they will cause loss of house seats in Districts that are close.
However, what is far worse is that those 12 million will be 30 million within a scant 10 or 20 years, as relatives of legal citizens and the children of legal citizens come pouring across the border. That, my friends, will swamp the GOP and send it to minority status for 70 years, if not forever, because once the Dems are back in control for good, with modern technology and there own personal propaganda mills, they may never let go of the levers of power again. That GOP (I should say conservative, because the two are not synonomous) century will be cut off at its inception, before it ever got a chance to get off the ground and show what it could do for this country.
To maintain the majority that we have worked so hard for, to restore constitutional government, and reduce the size and scope of government, we have to build on the current slim majority, which is approximately 51/49, into a permanent 55/45 or higher majority. Demographic trends, excluding Mexicans, are with us--a wealthier nation, growing suburbs, more educated populace. The FDR socialists are dying off, and the battle is now between the hippie/baby boom/marxist radicals and the free marketeers who revere Reagan. The radicals are not able to sustain the intellectual argument--among Americans. But they can convince 90 percent of the Mexicans to vote with them. And that will change the equation completely.
Bush thinks that he can coopt their votes by being nice to them. But he can't, no more than the fact that the GOP supported civil rights more than the Dems in the 60s led to black support of the GOP. Dems pushed welfare, and blacks voted for Dems, and that is what poor uneducated laborers from Central America will do.
Maybe Bush thinks he needs to be nice to keep the support of current hispanic citizens, but it's not true. About 47 percent of hispanics voted for Prop 187 in California. They are threatened by a new wave of immigration from even poorer hispanics, and so long as our policies are anti-immigrant, not anti-hispanic, the hispanic citizens will not decrease their support substantially from the 40 percent or so that currently vote GOP. Most of those are Cuban anyway.
I get so angry about this because Bush is pissing away the efforts of millions of conservatives over many years, including Jim Robinson right here, to convince Americans that conservatism is the best philosophy of government, if he lets this happen. We can't let him do it--it will take another Harriet Miers times 10.
Where's the part about securing the border?
sw
You appear to be thinking along the same line I am on this. The GOP took the white house with around 6 million votes. Allowing at least twice that many illegals with strong democrat leanings in. To continue on this track is suicidal for the party. We can't hope to overcome the numbers even with rock solid conservative support.
where are all the apologists????
Frist et al are caving to the RATs and it will be a disastrous bill amounting to amnesty for the illegals. I cannot stomach much more of this beltway idiocy. We don't need a new law! Just enforce the exisiting law by fining and jailing all employers of illegals and make it stick. If the fines are high enough and once a few lawbreaking employers go to jail, the rest will get the message and the illegals will have to go home. Send the moronic Senators and Reps a new message--no amnesty or you may be going home too!
Whats the use of being a apologist. Many got there mind made up and have for months. Perhaps the conservatives can use their influence at this point to make sure real border security is included in this bill. That would be the smart thing.However many are saying no compromise on here. I am hoping that the House members do now recognize this a chance to do something productive. They may not be in this position of strength next year.
Secure the borders or pay the price in November
Hit the logo to support his Border Jumper Protest ride across America.
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