Senators laughing at the suckers (American taxpayers).
"We sure pulled the wool over their eyes!"
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.
I’m afraid you’ve lump me in with the “I’ll show the pubbies” group. I already know that will do no good. This is about our country, not our “parties”. Personally I think Ron Paul is a little nutty. I don’t know much about Duncan Hunter. I do know that action not words will be what we need soon. All your hyperbole means nothing.
We must stop amnesty from happening! Contact your Senators, Congressperson and the President to say NO TO AMNESTY!!!
U.S. Senate switchboard: (202) 224-3121
U.S. House switchboard: (202) 225-3121
White House comments: (202) 456-1111
Find your House Rep.: http://www.house.gov/writerep
Find your US Senators: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Why is that here? What issues are discussed?
Is this a political forum or a gushing fan club?
That’s riiiii-iiiiiight!
I think we need to be eager to show Bush our displeasure with this bill then..
that 5,000 kicker I find laughable-how much do you want to bet there will be some government program to help these illegals pay their fine,at our expense..
do you honestly believe we will kick them out if they don’t pay?
The country is NOW at the efge of a cliff. There will be NO COMING BACK. We are being invaded by a group that does NOT share our values. And where are our troops? This will destroy us more that some suicide bombers, In 10 years - no 5 years, we will NOT BE RECOGNIZABLE as a country
There is ONLY ONE ISSUE NOW - Immigration. We are fighting for our life and liberty, for our culture (YES WE HAVE A CULTURE!). All with ONE piece of legislation.
Bush has betrayed OUR troops! What are they coming back to? My step father is 91 and was in WWII and he is questiong what we fought for, It is sad to see him this discouraged. My real father passed away (he was in the air corp in WWII) He would just be floored by this. I think the conspiricists may not be so wrong here - or at least not completely wrong. This is the “New World Order”r we were promised by BUSH I (which I used to laugh about - I'm not laughing anymore). And I helped him do it - God forgive us!
With a voting bloc from Mexico, how hard will it be to make a North American Union. Republicans will have no power to stop it.
It is like waking up into a BAD DREAM. I mean I know there are people of a globalist mindset, but I never thought I would see it implemented in our life time.
I will not attack anyone for thinking our politicians are using us like the “rubes” they believe we really are. How could they think they can say to us it isn’t amnesty - they must REALLY believe we are that stupid.
This is surrender ... not a solution. Would our lawmakers say the same of murderers? Rapists? Thieves? Ah well ... there’s too many. Can’t stop it. Let’s allow it! Then, it’s all legal and the problem goes away!
It is a chicken-hearted answer! Get some spine! Get tough!
Yes, we DO need a guest worker (what a phrase) answer to the problem of the need for cheap labor (call it what it is), but then why not encourage people from Mexico who have NEVER broken our laws to come on up and join us with a clean record! Those currently here are lawbreakers and yes, this bill rewards them for it!
I am wholeheartedly against it.
But really, to tell you the truth, I’d rather pay a quarter more for a head of lettuce, have Americans hired to do the job and send the lawbreakers back home.
The overload on our economy is killing us. Hospitals, schools, doctors, all of the entitlements due OUR citizens are being squeezed out of existance because America has no guts to say ‘NO’!
Shore up the border so that it’s effective (they put holes in the fences now ... you think a brand new fence is going to command respect all of a sudden?), put enough border agents on the job, commit the best technology that we have and get it done!
Want cheap labor? How about allowing amnesty for those that have been here for 20 years with no felony record to stay? They’ve been good citizens? OK. But NOT their children and their children’s children ad infinitum ...! Each person on his/her own merit IF they have a clean record and marketable skill.
And GET a good solid database going between ALL law enforcement agencies, hospitals, doctors, schools, gov’t funding, etc. with ALL the information in it, for heaven’s sake. This is 2007, not 1897. Sheeesh.
“But really, to tell you the truth, I’d rather pay a quarter more for a head of lettuce, have Americans hired to do the job and send the lawbreakers back home.”
Amen to THAT!!
This is the letter I mailed to the President yesterday:
I am writing to beg you not to sign the illegal alien amnesty bill when it comes to your desk, Mr. President.
There are not 14 million Mexicans, Communist Chinese and Islamic insurgents within our borders, due to a no border policy, but 35 to 65 million of these lawbreakers ready to accept legality from our govenrnent. These people are largely not willing to assimilate into American society. Too many are actually militant against America. These same people will also be able to bring their families into my country, largely indigent people whom American citizens will have to support with increased taxes.
I have been writing you since 2000 to secure our borders and ports during wartime with no response from you. So I write to you once again, Mr. President. I beg you to pray long and hard as you take your pen in hand. Please ask God if He wants you to tear up the sacred documents of His country. Ask Him if it is His desire that you, a man who took an oath in His name to protect His country, give shelter to His enemies, and ours.
Mr. President. Please do not sign this bill. Mr. President, please build the fence.
Thank you.
You're wasting your time with Jorge. He doesn't have to worry about reelection. Also, he's always wanted amnesty. Bush is a bought and paid for figurehead. We need to pressure Congress.
You should have written it in Spanish, maybe then you would get a response.
>You’re wasting your time with Jorge.<
I know that, but a girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do.
I can think of two other nations that literally voted for their own “suicide”- the former Rhodesia and the ANC-led South Africa. Look what happened to the former Rhodesia when the thug Mugabe took over and the rampant deterioration that country is going through now, and look at South Africa since 1994 when apartheid was overturned with all of the crime and lawlessness that is happening there. These two nations were once the only “First World Status” nations on the continent of Africa.
I hope we as a nation won’t be stupid to also vote for our suicide by allowing amnesty, but I will wait and see.
“Deal struck.”
Sell-out, you mean.
And, all done in secret - behind closed doors.
An unaccountable government.
Not to mention the place is boiling over with AIDS, STDs and TB.
Senators laughing at the suckers (American taxpayers).
"We sure pulled the wool over their eyes!"
I'm now asking about my point, which is what happens to the incomes of these people once legalized?
Are we going to still pay them below-minimum wages that they were forced to accept because of "living in the shadows" with fear of deportation if they don't accept it, or are we "bringing them into the sunshine" with all that goes with it, such as taxable income, FICA, unemployment deductions, etc., so that the low wages that they were forced to accept are no longer possible to pay?
If we legalize their status, we must legalize their compensation, too. The effect of that on their pocketbooks is probably an unintended consequence that they haven't fully considered yet. We can no longer pay them lower wages and still comply with laws and regulations. They might end up with a net loss of income because of deductions that they didn't have before.
If we legalize their compensation, they will no longer be able to undercut Americans for contracts, jobs, etc., and still make a profit.
If they're going to get welfare and medical care, get drivers licenses and legally use the roads, they will have to also become a part of the tax base if they are legalized.
If we're not doing these things, if we're going to legalize them and still pay them subsistance wages under the table with no income reporting and tax withholdings, then all we're doing is creating a new slave labor class all over again.
-PJ
At this point nothing would surprise me about Buhs. I’ve lost all confidence in the man.
All excellent points that you make, but GWB’s mind is as firm as Mount Rushmore and his heart as stoned as the old Pharaoh of old. He is like “a statue determinedly looking for his pedestal,” as William Allen White once wrote of President McKinley.
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