Posted on 05/17/2007 10:16:31 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - A bipartisan group of senators reached agreement with the White House Thursday on an immigration overhaul to grant quick legal status to millions of illegal immigrants already in the U.S. and fortify the border against new ones.
One of the key negotiators, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., said he expects President Bush to endorse it.
The deal came after weeks of painstaking closed-door negotiations that brought the most liberal Democrats and the most conservative Republicans together with Bush's Cabinet officers to produce a highly complex measure that carries heavy political consequences.
It set the stage for what promises to be a bruising battle next week in the Senate on one of Bush's top non-war priorities.
This is a breaking news update. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican and Democratic senators huddled Thursday trying to close in on an immigration compromise to grant quick legal status to millions of undocumented immigrants while fortifying U.S. borders against new ones.
A group of lawmakers that has been haggling over the terms of agreement for weeks were reviewing language negotiated Wednesday night in efforts to nail down a deal. Among the final sticking points was a stubborn dispute over how much family ties count toward green cards under a new "point system." The plan prioritizes advanced skills and education levels for future immigrants.
Two of the lead negotiators, Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Lindsey Graham (news, bio, voting record), R-S.C., booked time for Thursday afternoon in the Senate's radio-TV gallery for an announcement.
But Kennedy said some were hanging back as an agreement inched closer.
"There are just some people who don't want to close on this. There comes a time in every negotiation where people have to close," Kennedy said. "Today is it."
Kennedy said Thursday was likely the last chance for a compromise before senators scattered for a three-day weekend.
"The immigration reform legislation has come to a boiling point," Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record), R-Pa., said just before going into Thursday's meeting. "We've tried to come to a consensus and I think we are very, very close, but every time we grasp it, it eludes a final resolution."
If no deal emerged, Senate Democrats were to vote Monday evening to bring up an immigration measure that passed last year over the objections of most Republicans, who have said they will block it. That would be a highly partisan start to the immigration debate, which divides the two parties and exposes fissures within their ranks.
Even with a bipartisan agreement, the immigration debate could easily devolve into a free-for-all in the unruly Senate.
Majority Leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record), D-Nev., has said he wants to complete a bill before Memorial Day, and President Bush says he wants to sign one by summer's end.
Define amnesty.
When the American people actually rise up, they’re the most potent force on earth.
Read my post 1133.
Too many illegal voters in Arizona.
The clerisy in D.C. has no clue what real people out in the hinterlands really think of them. They only care about their sinecures.
Main Entry: am·nes·ty
Pronunciation: 'am-n&-stE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -ties
Etymology: Greek amnEstia forgetfulness, from amnEstos forgotten, from a- + mnasthai to remember -- more at MIND
: the act of an authority (as a government) by which pardon is granted to a large group of individuals
It's really a simple word to grasp.
Well, the over all majority of Americans were already in a bad mood, and it's become clear we are no longer being represented. I predict a major breakdown in the future, and anger they have yet to see.
What laws can I break, where government will reward me, pander to me, and give me free things like medical, etc?
And when the legalize them, where are they going to get their new cheap illegal labor?
Oh wait a minute, the newly legalized illegal aliens will be competing with thousands more coming across they'll work for less than the newly legalized illegal aliens.
Yep. One amnesty leads to the need for another.
Well, to be fair, Bush always supported amnesty. So if you always supported Bush, you also supported amnesty.
Because, unfortunately his opponent ran further to the "right" than J.D. He painted him as soft on illegal immigration by using his own votes against crap illegal immigration bills against him, and the people bought it.
We lost a good man when we lost J.D.
sw
By this admission - that you are NOT EVEN A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES - you have forfeited every single drop of credibility your previous posts may have contained.
Quite frankly, you have no dog in this hunt.
And you have no right - NO right - to question legal citizens of the United States when they express their outrage at this amnesty bill.
To aquire that "right", you must become a citizen first. You have not even applied yet to do even that.
I am not contesting your immigration status, nor your legal residency, nor your right to become a citizen in the future. I sense that when naturalized, you will become an asset to our culture.
I assume you are now confronting the legal obstacles that loom in front of those who are legal immigrants. If there is ANYone here who should be outraged at how those who came here ILLEGALLY will leap-frog around those who have played by the rules, it should be you.
What gives?
- John
I personally think their fax machines empty right into their trash cans, and all their email addresses are probably being routed to some guy in India, that's putting everyone on some junk email lists.
We are just being totally ignored, and unrepresented.
Former Senator Fred D. Thompson... [Rich Lowry] ... today released the following statement regarding the immigration bill currently pending in the United States Senate: “With this bill, the American people are going to think they are being sold the same bill of goods as before on border security. We should scrap this bill and the whole debate until we can convince the American people that we have secured the borders or at least have made great headway.” 05/17 07:47 PM
http://corner.nationalreview.com/
Illegals, who broke the laws of this country, get rewarded.
A bit of advice: Don’t try stuffing your mattress with laurels because they’ll get smashed by the weight of your ego.
How Long Do We Have?
About the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution, in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior:
“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.”
“The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:
1. From bondage to spiritual faith;
2. From spiritual faith to great courage;
3. From courage to liberty;
4. From liberty to abundance;
5. From abundance to complacency;
6. From complacency to apathy;
7. From apathy to dependence;
8. From dependence back into bondage.”
Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning the 2000 Presidential election:
Population of counties won by: Gore: 127 million; Bush: 143 million;
Square miles of land won by: Gore: 580,000; Bush: 2,427,000
States won by: Gore: 19; Bush: 29
Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Gore: 13.2; Bush: 2.1
Professor Olson adds: “In aggregate, the map of the territory Bush won was mostly the land owned by the tax-paying citizens of this great country. Gore’s territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off government welfare...”
Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the “complacency and apathy” phase of Professor Tyler’s definition of Democracy, with some 40 percent of the nation’s population already having reached the “governmental dependency” phase.
I knew this was coming earlier today when I saw Bill Frist’s piece.
The obvious question for Fred is: “What then?” Amnesty?
Yes we did!
Sage advice!
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