Don't be fooled. McCain's amendment makes the back taxes due only if and when they get a green card. And there may be other loopholes we haven't found yet, that take more teeth out of this amendment. The lying continues.
See my tagline.
Posted on 05/29/2007 6:05:11 PM PDT by RWR8189
Don't listen to Teddy Kennedy. If you belong to the small band of conservative brothers inclined to support immigration reform, the Massachusetts senator is on your side. But what he says is likely to make you anxious, vexed, or even crazed. At times, Kennedy makes the compromise immigration bill sound like the latest loopy liberal legislation to provide welfare to the world.
It's not. Indeed, much of the organized left opposes it. The AFL-CIO is especially upset about the provision to bring foreign workers here temporarily. But when you hear Kennedy on the subject, you have to wonder what they're so worried about.
The temps, Kennedy insisted last week, are "going to get the prevailing wage, they are going to be protected by OSHA, if they get hurt on the job they are going to get workmen's compensation. They are going to get worker protections. If they are working on a construction site, they are going to be covered by Davis-Bacon."
Kennedy contrasted this pampering with the fate of those poor illegal immigrants who work here now. Absent the new program, Kennedy said, they'll continue to be exploited, their rights "trampled on." They'll be injured by "sharp hooks, knives, exhausting assembly line speeds." In Massachusetts, illegal workers are "fired for going to the bathroom, denied overtime pay, docked 15 minutes' pay for every minute they were late . . . fired for talking while on the clock, forced to ration toilet paper."
As Senate floor manager of the immigration bill, Kennedy gets emotionally wound up. He exaggerates. He raises his voice. He berates Democratic and Republican senators alike. He intimidates, or tries to anyway. He is a throwback to an older oratorical style. He is a bellower, a bully, something of a blowhard. He is enormously fun to watch.
But what's important about Kennedy is that he's the ally of pro-immigrant Republicans in the Senate debate on the bipartisan immigration bill. And Kennedy is effective. The Republicans gave up a lot to get Kennedy, particularly in agreeing to "Z" visas that would allow the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already in the United States to stay as legal residents and eventually seek citizenship.
Led by conservative Jon Kyl of Arizona, the Republicans gained Kennedy's support for three significant provisions. The first is a buildup of border security that must be completed before Z visas can be issued and other reforms implemented. The second is a temporary worker program in which the workers must return to their home country. In this bill, Kyl says, "temporary means temporary." And the third is the end of "chain migration," the practice that has allowed legal immigrants to bring their endless extended families here. If the compromise becomes law, only the immigrant, spouse, and minor children will be allowed in.
Should any of these provisions be stripped from the bill, the compromise will fall apart and immigration reform will die, for the foreseeable future anyway. And Kennedy may be the only person who can stop liberal Democrats from stripping and thus killing the bill. He's succeeded so far, and it now appears the bill will pass the Senate when debate resumes in June. The House, where there's no Kennedy counterpart, is another matter.
Kennedy single-handedly turned back an effort by Democratic senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota to wipe out or limit the temp program. Dorgan initially proposed to strike the program entirely. Kennedy's response was ferocious. He referred to Dorgan as the "senator from North Carolina." He said, contrary to what Dorgan had argued, that illegal immigrants, not legal temps, drive down wages.
"I would like the chicken-pluckers to pay $10 or $15 an hour," he said. Today, when they hire illegal immigrants, "they do not do it." He roared at Dorgan, "Who are you trying to kid? Who is the senator . . . trying to fool?"
Dorgan later proposed to end the program after five years, another compromise-killer. This would alienate the business lobby, which supports the bill largely because of the temp program. Dorgan had the votes to win, 49-48, until Kennedy intervened at the last moment. He persuaded Democrat Daniel Akaka of Hawaii to change his vote, and Dorgan lost, 49-48. And the bill was saved.
Kennedy and Kyl easily rebuffed an amendment by Republican senator David Vitter of Louisiana to prohibit Z visas--still another compromise-destroying amendment. Kennedy also scolded Republican Jeff Sessions of Alabama for seeking to bar newly legalized immigrants from qualifying for the earned income tax credit. "This amendment would hurt children," Kennedy shouted. "We need to help children, not hurt them. They should not have to pay for the sins of their parents."
The bipartisan group of 12 senators who negotiated the compromise met daily last week (several times in Kennedy's office) to decide which amendments they would accept and which they would oppose as poison pills like Dorgan's that shatter the compromise and kill the bill.
The four Democratic senators running for president--Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Chris Dodd--were not part of these talks, and it showed. Clinton and Biden, supposedly backers of immigration reform, voted with Dorgan (and the AFL-CIO) to eliminate the temporary workers program and blow up the compromise. Obama and Dodd were absent. All four voted with Dorgan on the five-year limit, also a deal-breaker.
On the touchy issue of whether illegal immigrants should pay back taxes to get Z visas, Kennedy proved to be tolerant. He and Kyl had arranged a tradeoff whereby the collection of back taxes was scratched in exchange for Z visa holders not being credited for Social Security taxes they paid while working here illegally.
But when an amendment by Republican senator John McCain mandating payment of back taxes was introduced, Kennedy let it pass by voice vote. He and Kyl figured it was better not to oppose such a popular measure.
In the Senate, there's one more serious obstacle to passage. That's the plan by liberal Democrats--Obama is one--to restore legal immigration based largely on family ties--chain migration--rather than education, job skills, and other measures of merit. Again, if the liberals succeed, it means immigration reform is dead. Kyl and Republicans will bail out.
After the bipartisan compromise was announced, Senator Lindsey Graham returned to South Carolina, spoke to the state Republican convention, and was booed when he mentioned Kennedy. "Kennedy is in an I-want-to-legislate mode," Graham said. "When you catch him in the I-want-to-legislate mode, you can do some business." True, but Graham was wise not to bring Kennedy with him to emphasize the point.
Fred Barnes is executive editor of THE WEEKLY STANDARD.
One thing is sure . If fat Ted and Eleonor Clift are for it. Its is a bad thing.
It’s a good observation. Why any Republican would help Ted get a bill passed is beyond me. What Ted wants is not what a Republican wants. And yet the Stupid Party helps him out time after time.
It was George Bush that keeps leading them to Ted with spending beyond our means.
Fred suffers from inside the beltway dementia. 2008 is gonna be something to behold.
And, yet, Fred is telling us this is, in reality, a Republican bill -- and that The Great White Whale from Massachusetts has been enlisted to sell it to his fellow Democrats.
If the GOP leadership is, in fact, responsible for this travesty, I'm even more enraged than I was.
Why, oh, why did they choose to fight on this indefensible ground?
Yeah, sure Fred, I can think of few things more fun than watching Kennedy spew his pro-illegal immigrant BS!!!
The Weekly Standard is a totally worthless rag.
WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! TILL YOU RUN OUT OF INK IN YOUR PEN!
Bombard the Democrats as well, especially the ones that ran on an anti illegal immigration plank and the ones in marginal districts who could be vulnerable. keep pounding on them.
“The four Democratic senators running for president—Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Chris Dodd—were not part of these talks, and it showed. Clinton and Biden, supposedly backers of immigration reform, voted with Dorgan (and the AFL-CIO) to eliminate the temporary workers program and blow up the compromise. Obama and Dodd were absent. All four voted with Dorgan on the five-year limit, also a deal-breaker.”
Fred Barnes is a fool, or takes us for one. This will get ‘fixed’ in the conference anyway so it doesnt ‘blow up’ the compromise, only make it better for Demcorats and worse for Republicans. As will most of the changes under the hood.
The guest worker program is of little interest to the people, except the cheap labor lobby, so their interest in voting against this is pure liberalism, but that doesnt mean the opposite is conservatism.
This bill is intended to fail to make our immigration system work. It is inherently flawed.
Having Senator Ted Kennedy author this bill is like asking an incompetent doctor who botched an operation to conduct the surgery to fix his own mistakes. In 1986, Senator Kennedy said “We will never again bring forward another Amnesty Bill like this.” Today, he brings forward the 1986-redo bill, only bigger. Kennedy has joined with La Raza and cheap labor lobbies on the business side to ensure that American immigration stays as out-of-control as possible, and the result is predictably bad.
http://travismonitor.blogspot.com/2007/05/this-immigration-bill-is-built-to-fail.html
This stooge’s nose keeps browner and browner. What’s he going to do when Bush is gone and the democrats become a permanent majority, write more childish books?
“As Senate floor manager of the immigration bill, Kennedy gets emotionally wound up. He exaggerates. He raises his voice. He berates Democratic and Republican senators alike. He intimidates, or tries to anyway. He is a throwback to an older oratorical style. He is a bellower, a bully, something of a blowhard. He is enormously fun to watch”
No, he’s just a drunk.
Fred's not even very intelligent, but he does make for a useful stooge.
Many of us saw the 2006 election disaster coming down the tracks... but Old Fred did not have a clue.
I’ll make another prediction, pass this bill and the GOP is PERMANENT HISTORY... not just an ocassional train wreck.
Fred...i liked you when you came over from New Republic in the 80s but realize now that you are still a social moderate at best.
Ciao.
Say NO!! to amnesty for illegal immigrants!
Take a hike Fred, no one but your Beltway, elitist, Rockefeller Republican buddies are listening.
You should have watched Kennedy rip into Dorgan last week during debate over Dorgan’s amendment to remove the guest worker provision.
If it were printed on thin paper and came in rolls, it might have some value. Fred just wants to make the down stairs/upstairs maid.
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