Frist Opposes Amendments on Immigrants

New York Times ^ | April 13, 2005 | By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

[Conservative Firster]

WASHINGTON, April 12 - Senator Bill Frist, the majority leader, said on Tuesday that he was discouraging efforts to incorporate immigration and border security measures into the Senate version of a supplemental military spending bill, which would set the stage for showdowns among Congressional Republicans over immigration later this year.

Meeting with reporters, Dr. Frist, of Tennessee, said, "I am encouraging my colleagues to defer, to postpone discussions of immigration and to postpone that debate."

He said, however, that he was still negotiating with senators who seek to add immigration provisions to the military spending bill.

The House version of the bill includes provisions to block illegal immigrants from obtaining standard driver's licenses, to make it easier to reject requests for asylum and to override environmental rules blocking construction of a barrier along California's border with Mexico.

Senators from each party seek to add amendments that would make it easier for employers to hire more foreign workers.

The immigration debate reveals a fault line in the Republican Party, pitting cultural conservatives hostile to illegal immigrants against business groups that seek foreign laborers. President Bush has declared his support for a guest-worker program that would be open to currently illegal immigrants.

On Tuesday, Dr. Frist called immigration "a huge issue, an issue that we have to address this year, that the president put a proposal on the table last year - legislatively, we did not address it - I believe we have to address this year."

House Republicans, however, said that negotiators in a conference last year promised that the provisions would be included in some "must-pass" legislation, like the supplemental military spending bill. In negotiations with the Senate, House Republicans added, they were determined to keep the provisions in the final version of the bill.

Senate Democrats want to offer a number of amendments seeking to loosen immigration restrictions or expand foreign-workers programs. Dr. Frist and Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, were in talks on Tuesday night about whether to limit the number of immigration amendments to a handful, with some Democrats seeking assurances that the final bill would not include the House's immigration restrictions, aides said.

Senator Judd Gregg, Republican of New Hampshire, and Senator Barbara A. Mikulski, Democrat of Maryland, said they planned to offer an amendment that would make more visas available for temporary seasonal workers, which they said would be needed by the hotel and fishing industries this summer.

Meanwhile, two Republican senators, John Cornyn of Texas and Jon Kyl of Arizona, advocating the tightening of border security along the lines of the House measures, said they also favored deferring the immigration debate in the Senate and enacting comprehensive measures that would also include some form of Mr. Bush's guest-worker program.

Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform and a conservative strategist working with the White House on its guest-worker proposal, predicted that each side would ultimately succeed only through comprehensive legislation that tightens border security and at the same time adds foreign workers to the labor pool. "Immigration reform and border security are not competitors; they are the same thing," he said.

He said he believed that the House Republican opponents of the guest-worker program would "get boxed out by a bipartisan coalition," and that Mr. Bush could achieve his guest-worker program mostly through strong Democratic support.

[liberallarry]

...and many factors to it.

True.

On one hand you have vastly successful people like the inventors of the computer, the internet, the search engine, e-bay, netflix, etc. People of great originality, intelligence, talent, determination who've been greatly rewarded...and who can complain about that?

On the other you've got people such as you've described...and others whose greed and amorality knows no bounds.

[Txsleuth]

BTW, I was watching C-span 2 today and I think what Frist is doing is trying to remove any amendment having to do with illegal immigration/amnesty from the supplemental bill for money for the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq---

I know that the House added an amendment by Sensenbrenner re: immigrants not getting drivers licenses--I think that they are saying that that amendment pertains more to "security" than immigration reform, which is what the amendments in the Senate deal with----

Of course, the dems in the Senate won't agree with dropping their immigration amendments unless the Senate agrees to stip the Sensenbrenner amendment in conference with the HOuse.----

I will say one thing if and when they finally do get around to an immigration reform bill---there will be FIREWORKS, and it is gonna be FUN to watch---frustrating too, I bet.

[Conservative Firster]

"Of course, the dems in the Senate won't agree with dropping their immigration amendments unless the Senate agrees to stip the Sensenbrenner amendment in conference with the HOuse.----"

"House Republicans, however, said that negotiators in a conference last year promised that the provisions would be included in some "must-pass" legislation, like the supplemental military spending bill. In negotiations with the Senate, House Republicans added, they were determined to keep the provisions in the final version of the bill."

[T.L.Sink]

Lou Dobbs tonight again catalogued how the massive foreign
invasion of illegals is devastating our school districts,
our social service and welfare system, and costing an
enormous amount in taxation to incarcerate illegals. In
addition there is the rampant problem of drug running,
numerous deadly gangs like MS 13, and the very REAL threat
to national security that terrorists will be among the
millions of illiegals. He cited BOTH Frist and Bush as
two who don't care to seriously address a situation that
has passed the crisis point and now poses an IMMINENT
threat to our national security and domestic culture.
The tragic fact is that BOTH political parties are betraying this nation -- despite the fact that about 80%
of the citizens realize that this "no borders" policy
is suicidal insanity. Frist and Bush (and others) would
prefer to talk about the matter "bye and bye" and meanwhile
rearrange the deck chairs on the national Titanic.
Does any FReper know a viable third party candidate?

[Txsleuth]

Ah, yes, and therein lies the rub---you know there was another thread on FR today that illustrates why this is happening---

I can't remember verbatim the title, but it is about how the "operative word" in dem politics is "NO"--even James Carville in the article posted said that-much to his chagrin, because even though he is an intolerable lib, and unlikeble, he is smart, and even he knows that having "NO" be your "plan of attack" isn't gonna cut it in the long run.

I mean all you have to do is point to Daschle, if you can find him, to know how stalling, slow-walking legislation and mostly obstructionism, will eventually cost you your job. I thought, being the minority whip under Daschle, Reid would have figured out what did ole Tom in, but I guess not---

[Ben Ficklin]

I have a difficult time bashing McCain or Craig because they each co-authored a compromise bill. What would you expect of a compromise with a democrat. The reform bill that McCain co-authored with the rest of the Arizona delegation is very different from the one with Kennedy. Had Craig authored his bill alone without consideration of the dem position, it would be very different than his compromise with Kennedy.

The problem with a republican written bill is that it can't pass. The dems have to support it.

As for what happens in conference, who blinks? One, the other, or both? Or neither?

[Eva]

We now have video surveillance along the border between Canada and Western Washington, with a room full of tvs, monitored by sixteen agents (or so I am told). Why can't they do the same thing in California?

[Americanexpat]

Maybe somebody can explain this to me. Somebody gets a guest workers pass to come into the country? Does he get an ID with an expiration date? Who is going to track him down when he disappears? Does this guest worker pass allow him to bring the wife and kids with him? Who is responsible to pay for their education, health benefits.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

The problem with a republican written bill is that it can't pass. The dems have to support it.

The compromise bill these two are proposing is even more liberal and sweeping than what Bush is calling for. I didn't think that was possible but I've been wrong many times in the past.

The GOP controls all three branches of government, if they can't or won't get illegal immigration under control and feel as if scheming with democrats to give away the store is the only answer to solving the problem then should they lose power due to conservative defections they'll have only themselves to blame.

[rdb3]

Democrats play the race card at every opportunity, and Republicans play the religion card on their core constituents.

It's drawing near where a third party is a viable option.

You won't get an argument from me about who plays what with constituents. And, whether we want it to or not, money makes the world go 'round.

Also, I believe that a third-party will be a viable option when it is no longer a third-party. How, you ask? Simple. Make the Dems go the way of the Whigs.

It can happen.

The Dems are weak, aborting themselves and fagging themselves out of a powerful existence. Now that Presidents can get elected without either New York or California, the game has changed. Coastal and Midwestern urban areas are the strength of the Democrat Party. By the time the 2010 census comes, their strength will be further weakened.

The GOP must be used to thoroughly demolish the Democrats. That's right, use the GOP to that end. Two can play the "using" game.

The GOP and its party members do indeed have that strength as long as we on the Right do not fracture and defeat ourselves.

The "other" party will then come from the eventual splitting of the GOP. We're not talking about 50 years down the line, either. I fully believe that this will come about by '08 or no later than '12.

Put that in the bank and it will draw interest.

[COEXERJ145]

The problem with a republican written bill is that it can't pass. The dems have to support it.

The reason a Republican bill won't pass is not the Democrats. The problem is Tancredo and the rest of the idiots in his little clique will not let anything pass unless he can claim credit for the bill and declare himself to be the "savior of the western world" as his followers tell him he is. After all, he needs his worshipers to keep stroking his ego and sending those monthly donations.

It's really funny but sad at the same time. The very person who those obsessed with immigration look to as a god is the same person who is holding up any chance at immigration and border reform.

[Liberator]

Bill Frist has the balls of a eunuch (that's right -- it's only an empty sack)

[Conservative Firster]

READ HERE: Report: Border sensors defective

[risk]

He probably means cheap, slave-duty Hispanic and high-tech South Asian (multiple religions) and Chinese immigrants. Chinese immigrants, many of whom believe in "one true China."

A synopsis on the FrontPage story also linking Norquist to Islamism is here: http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/000376.php

More attacks on Norquist appear here: http://www.citizensoldier.org/norquist.html and here: http://www.mediatransparency.org/people/grover_norquist.htm

Why can't the RNC clean up its house and stand up for what it says it does?

What part of "keep America safe and free" don't they understand? You can't import a bunch of desperate people who could care less about America and may even hold religious views that are diametrically opposed to our way of life and expect American culture to remain stable and vigilant. On the same topic, did you know that one in six people in India are "untouchable" human beings? This is justified by their (non-Muslim) religion. That's 166 million people who are outcasts.

These are not your typical European immigrants of the 18th and 19th centuries. They're different from hard-working and America-loving Confucian and Buddhist immigrants of the last 150 years, as well. And Norquist is right there to encourage it all... For a price.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

Does he get an ID with an expiration date?

Supposedly, I hear they're looking to make it a blue card.

Who is going to track him down when he disappears?

If it's anything like enforcement of the last 15 years, nobody.

Does this guest worker pass allow him to bring the wife and kids with him?

On a Cato Institute forum a year ago it was stated by a Bush spokeswoman that yes, families would be encouraged to settle here under his plan. If the mother has a baby, he or she will be an automatic citizen and they will not seek to correct the misinterpretation of the 14th Amendment.

Who is responsible to pay for their education, health benefits.

I've asked this myself countless times to supporters of the plan and have yet to get an answer. I'm assuming then you and I will continue paying for it as we've been doing.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

Quite the diatribe there I'd say.

Here's my answer: Tancredo in 2008.

[dalereed]

DP!!!!

[Dane]

It's really funny but sad at the same time. The very person who those obsessed with immigration look to as a god is the same person who is holding up any chance at immigration and border reform

What and not keep the dollars to his PAC flowing and the ethnic animus at a fever high pitch.

You heretic or DP.

[stratman1969]

Bill Frist = Checked Pants, Country-Club Republican

[risk]

DP