Free Republic

The immigration debacle reflects the sorry state of the U.S. Senate nowadays. Has the world’s greatest deliberative body really fallen so far? Where is the extended debate, a real debate? Where are the Calhouns, the Websters? Where is the respect for the process, our nation, the Founders? The amnesty bill isn’t dead, with President Bush and Senate leaders twisting arms to revive this amnesty monstrosity and force through a “deal.” The bill’s death would be very good for the country! The Bush-Kennedy bill makes mass amnesty its main object. It recklessly increases legal immigration levels and chain migration, though the...

RESOLUTION WHEREAS, any official position of the City of Los Angeles with respect to legislation, rules, regulations or policies proposed to or pending before a local, state or federal governmental body or agency must have first been adopted in the form of a Resolution by the City Council with the concurrence of the Mayor; and WHEREAS, Congress is currently engaged in deliberations for the enactment of comprehensive immigration legislation and the Senate is considering S. 1348, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007; and WHEREAS, during debate before leaving for the Memorial Day recess, the Senate defeated, 48-49, an amendment...

The S.S. GOP is sinking fast, and it looks like Skipper Bush is going down with his ship. That's only fair — after all, he's the one who torpedoed his own ship with the immigration-reform-bill warhead. Not fair is the fact that he's taking his party down with him. I can understand his stubbornness in sticking with this insane program that doesn't do a damned thing to plug the leaking borders that are allowing the United States to be flooded with all manner and shapes of illegal aliens, some of them terrorists who want to kill large numbers of Americans...

Key senators tentatively agreed on a plan to revive a stalled immigration bill on Thursday, aided by President Bush's support for a quick $4.4 billion aimed at "securing our borders and enforcing our laws at the work site." Officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said Republican and Democratic supporters of the bill were presenting their proposal to the Senate's top two leaders, who in turn arranged an early evening meeting to discuss it. Precise details to be presented to Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., were not disclosed. In general, according to officials familiar...

WASHINGTON - President Bush, trying to salvage an immigration overhaul legislation, endorsed a plan Thursday that would lock in money for border security as way to win over conservative lawmakers and a skeptical public. "We're going to show the American people that the promises in this bill will be kept," Bush said in a speech to the Associated Builders and Contractors. Bush got behind a proposal to set aside money collected through fees and penalties for tougher border security and workplace enforcement. Two Republican senators, John Kyl of Arizona and Lindsey Graham (news, bio, voting record) of South Carolina, have...

WASHINGTON - President Bush, wading deeper into an issue that bitterly divides his party, hopes a personal appeal can help persuade skeptical Republicans to resurrect and pass his immigration bill. Over lunch Tuesday in the Capitol, Bush planned an effort to change enough minds among GOP senators to salvage one of his top domestic priorities. The measure, which legalizes up to 12 million unlawful immigrants and tightens border security, stalled last week in the face of broad Republican opposition. "I think one of the things that we have to do is answer the skeptics, answer the doubters," White House press...

It’s still an open question whether the Senate immigration bill once hailed as a “grand bargain” returns to the Senate floor this week or fades forever from public and political consciousness. But before they try to resurrect this or any other immigration bill, President Bush and the senators who supported this failed effort would be well-advised to heed the opinion of the people who have elected them. A New York Times/CBS poll taken May 18-23 found that 69% of Americans believe that illegal immigrants should be prosecuted and deported; 82% of those surveyed said the federal government should be working...

The undoing of the immigration bill in the Senate this week had many players, but none more effective than angry voters like Monique Thibodeaux, who joined a nationwide campaign to derail it. Mrs. Thibodeaux, an office manager at a towing company here in suburban Detroit, became politically active with a whole new energy. Guided by conservative Internet organizations, she made calls and sent e-mail messages to senators across the country and pushed her friends to do the same. “These people came in the wrong way, so they don’t belong here, period,” Mrs. Thibodeaux, a Republican, said of some 12 million...

President Bush, trying to recover from a stinging setback on immigration, will personally try in a visit to the Capitol next week to revive the embattled plan for legalizing millions of unlawful immigrants. Bush's scheduled lunch on Tuesday with GOP senators is part of a campaign by the White House and allies in both parties to placate or outmaneuver conservative Republicans who blocked the broad immigration measure this week. They said Friday they would try again to reach accord on the number of amendments the dissidents could offer. Opponents of the bill promised to continue fighting all such efforts. Democratic...

.....all the GOP lawmakers who spoke with FOX News were upbeat that the legislation could be revived soon — even within a matter of weeks...... The lawmakers who failed Thursday to win a key vote on the immigration reform bill before the Senate said on Friday that they will continue to push the bill forward and believed they could still find a compromise that would pass. "We are not giving up. We are not giving in," Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., told reporters. He is the chief Democrat at the negotiating table for the immigration bill. "When it is recognized by...

Immigration Bill Fails Crucial Test Vote Email this Story Jun 7, 9:24 PM (ET) US Immigration Documents - View Original Source Historical Docs. Register with Footnote Today. Footnote.com WASHINGTON (AP) - A broad immigration bill to legalize millions of people in the U.S. unlawfully failed a crucial test vote in the Senate Thursday, a stunning setback that could spell its defeat for the year. The vote was 45-50 against limiting debate on the bill, 15 short of the 60 that the bill's supporters needed to prevail. Most Republicans voted to block Democrats' efforts to bring the bill to a final...

Liveblogging the debate on the Senate floor... 8pm Eastern. There's a motion to compel attendance of absent senators. Sergeant-at-arms sent out to look for the absentees. Attempting get a quorum of 51 on the floor. Where are the missing senators? FAIR sent out this alert that may give a clue: FAIR has learned that instead of debating amendments on the floor, Senators this afternoon are hiding behind closed doors, drafting a massive, 400-page amendment that will replace huge chunks of the Bush-Kennedy bill currently being debated. Senate leaders are hoping to use the new substitute amendment to reverse changes made...

WASHINGTON (AP) - A fragile bipartisan compromise that would legalize millions of unlawful immigrants suffered a setback Thursday when it failed a test vote in the Senate, leaving its prospects uncertain. Still, the measure—a top priority for President Bush that's under attack from the right and left—won a brief reprieve when Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he would give it more time before yanking the bill and moving on to other matters. His decision set the stage for yet another procedural vote later Thursday that will measure lawmakers' appetite for a so-called "grand bargain" between liberals and conservatives on...

WASHINGTON, June 1 (UPI) — The U.S. Senate may consider making English the national language, not the common language included in immigration reform legislation. The proposal from Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., would reduce the government services provided in languages other than English, the Washington Times reported Friday. There is not an entitlement for language, other than the English language, to be given to people who want government services, Inhofe told the Times. Many Democrats oppose the measure, which would lift President Bill Clinton's executive order encouraging government services to be delivered in different languages, and its fate as an amendment...

The frail coalition that is shepherding an immigration bill toward final passage in the Senate withstood another attack on its compromise language Wednesday, fighting off a possible “poison pill” amendment from Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). The amendment would have restricted the number of illegal immigrants eligible to remain in the country. It was defeated 51-46 when Republican Sens. Larry Craig (Idaho), Pete Domenici (N.M.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Chuck Hagel (Neb.), Jon Kyl (Ariz.), Richard Lugar (Ind.), Mel Martinez (Fla.), John McCain (Ariz.), Arlen Specter (Pa.) and George Voinovich (Ohio) voted with the majority of Democrats to defeat the language. Instead,...

The debate continues. Reid took the floor to say that he has filed for cloture. Deeply sorry...he'd like to hear more debate...but they have to get back to the other work of the American people, dontcha know.

JEKYLL ISLAND - U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., usually finds friendly audiences in Southeast Georgia. Perhaps none more so than Saturday's annual conference of the National Guard Association of Georgia on Jekyll Island where the nearly 200 officers gave Chambliss standing ovations. But it hasn't been that easy the past couple of weeks. Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., helped forge an agreement on immigration that would let about 8 million illegal immigrants remain in the country. When the news broke, Chambliss said his office was getting 1,000 calls a day, almost all negative, Lindsey Mabry, one of his aides, said...

As Congress debates overhauling our broken immigration system, the bottom line should be this: Will the new system be enforceable and restore respect for our laws? Or will it be unenforceable and lead to even more illegality in the future? This is not a minor matter. America is successful because it is a nation of laws. We now have a situation in which some laws are routinely ignored. If we approve yet another law that promises reform yet again fails to deliver on its promises, our precious heritage as a nation of law will be in serious jeopardy. Our recent...

The vote was close. A cluster of senators from both parties, authors of the immigration bill under debate, hovered over the clerk tallying the votes on an amendment that could bring down their fragile compromise legislation. At 45 to 45, Arizona's Jon Kyl, the lead Republican architect of the bill, put his hand to his chin. At 48 to 45, he crossed his arms and bit his lip. Ken Salazar, the Colorado Democrat who helped write the bill, leaned in. The count stopped: 49 to 48. The amendment had passed, and their bill looked doomed. The bipartisan team sprang into...

Were you aware that if you oppose amnesty for illegal aliens, you “don’t want to do what’s right for America”? President Bush said exactly that about those in opposition to the “immigration reform” bill that he and Teddy Kennedy wish to cram down our throats. Bush made his remarks in a speech to students and instructors at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Ga. In the ultimate act of chutzpah, Bush championed the secretly negotiated bill that rewards millions of lawbreakers, in front of those who have chosen law enforcement as a career. Hardly the example I would...