Posted on 05/17/2006 5:02:57 PM PDT by notes2005
WASHINGTON - Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, who has pushed a tough border security bill through the House, accused President Bush on Wednesday of abandoning the legislation after asking for many of its provisions.
"He basically turned his back on provisions of the House-passed bill, a lot of which we were requested to put in the bill by the White House," Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., angrily told reporters in a conference call. "That was last fall when we were drafting the bill, and now the president appears not to be interested in it at all."
Sensenbrenner chairs the House Judiciary Committee and would be the House's chief negotiator on any final immigration package for Bush's signature. He said it was the White House that had requested two controversial felony provisions in the bill the House passed last winter.
"We worked very closely with White House in the fall in putting together the border security bill that the House passed," he said. "... What we heard in November and December, he seems to be going in the opposite direction in May. That is really at the crux of this irritation," he said of Bush.
White House spokesman Alex Conant said Bush has been consistent in seeking comprehensive immigration reform. "He applauded the House's action to strengthen our borders and is now urging the Senate to pass a bill," Conant said.
Sensenbrenner spoke with reporters as the Senate worked this week on a broader bill that generally follows the approach Bush laid out Monday night in his nationally televised speech. That includes offering most of the nation's 12 million illegal immigrants an opportunity to eventually become citizens — an act that Sensenbrenner and other conservatives label as amnesty.
"I was very disappointed in the president's speech," Sensenbrenner said. "I think he doesn't get it."
Asked if Bush mollified conservatives in the speech by calling for sending National Guard troops to states along the Mexican border, Sensenbrenner said, "He failed in that completely."
And despite Bush's insistence that he was not calling for amnesty, Sensenbrenner said, "Well it is an amnesty, because it allows people who have broken the law to stay in the country."
"The president has repeatedly and forcefully rejected amnesty," Conant said. "Under his plan, you're going to have to pay stiff fines, follow the law, stay employed, learn English and — after achieving all those things — go to the back of the line."
Sensenbrenner did not attend a closed-door meeting between Bush political adviser Karl Rove and House Republicans, but said that some members complained to him that Rove didn't stay around for many questions or hear what lawmakers had to say.
"The overwhelming majority of those that I talked to who were at the conference believe that he dissed the House Republicans," Sensenbrenner said.
What an ahole. Rove likes to dish it out more than taken it. DC seems to be the ultimate magnet to the arrogant and self centered and egotistical, leaving room for few others.
Next time, you run for president, try to impliment 300 million ideas and see where that gets you. I'll look for you during the prelim debates. This is the best plan in over 30 years. Where was Nixon's plan, where was Carter's plan, where was Bush I's plan, where was Clinton's plan. Now all of a sudden it's GWB's fault and his alone. You one issue wonders really need a history lesson.
It's also a felony to commit identity fraud, which millions are doing when they show up with fake papers. Now that we are computerized, it should be easy for the goverment to spot 15 people using the same S/S card.
Nothing has really changed. Bush has always been a "open borders" globalist.
Sensenbrenner visits our town dump to meet folks on a Saturday morning. He's as real as real can get.
Many people are going to be very upset when they read what Sensenbrenner had to say.
"Payback is a b*tch."
Hard to say who started it. Sessenbrenner might have kept quiet about the Bush angle out of respect, saw he got snookered. This could be his payback to the payback.
Looking bad. Liberal Globalist mainstream media has silenced critics in public and Congress that you will be labelled "right wing extremist" if you question this bill. No New York Times analyses about how many people this bill will bring in, why Dems are anti-worker now.
bump for publicity
It certainly appears that way doesn't it? This isn't hard for the other 187 countries in the UN.
Bush was POTUS when 9-11 occurred. That would have been the time to enforce border security. This, at this time, reeks of election year posturing. Hope I'm wrong and it's real. But Bush has been soft on the Illegals for a very long time.
We now have two contridicting stories.
Who is telling the truth President Bush or Sennensbrenner.
I noticed the White House did not directly deny the remarks made by Sennisnbrenner.
I was very disappointed in the president's speech," Sensenbrenner said. "I think he doesn't get it."
Dick Durbin (D-IL) says that President Bush "gets it".
Irregardless if Bush is sincere or not, he needs to look around and see who he has allied himself with. Kennedy, Durbin, McCain, and Vincente Fox are his mortal enemies. None of those listed above care anything about the good of this country, they are simply for themselves or the criminal enterprise they may belong to. Sensenbrenner has walked the walk only on Impeachment only to humiliated by that treacherous Senate. Now he is not only up against that same Senate but he finds President Bush being supported by the worst possible kind such as Durbin.
If they have sent their cash back home, how are they going to pay a fine????
Bush understands these illegals come here for jobs and opportunity, not necessary for citizenship. To give them legal residency is to reward them with exactly what they came for.
Where is the "back of the line" when millions of people petition to come here legally and are still in line to become legal residents? Why don't these people break the law and jump to the front of the line too?
Why doesn't everybody break the law and get what they feel they deserve?
As a Congressman, I would have been enraged, and verbally lashed Rove as he exited. I really would have. And then I would have sent Bush a note about it.
check this out
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