Posted on 06/27/2007 7:40:17 AM PDT by 300magnum
WASHINGTON - President Bush, short on political capital and time, is devoting much of what's left of his term in office to getting an immigration deal.
Starting with an April 9 speech in Arizona, in which he talked tough about border security and prodded Congress to get moving, Bush has staged a dozen immigration events. That's not counting his four radio addresses on the topic in that time, or his phone calls to lawmakers, or his bold prediction that he'd see reporters at the bill-signing for a bill that seemed dead.
His agenda reflects that immigration is a White House priority for multiple reasons.
It is deeply important to the president, a former Texas governor who sees the status quo on immigration as a failure for the nation and a looming disaster for his party. It is seen as a major legislative victory within reach. And it is seen as urgent — now or never for him, most likely.
So each day, a White House strategy team weighs how to maintain momentum on a bill offering legal status to millions of unlawful immigrants.
A small, core group of officials — representing policy, communications, strategy and legislative offices — organizes the approach.
There is no war room, per se, but rather meetings held in locations at the White House and on Capitol Hill. The participants vary and overlap. The president gets involved when his participation is deemed to have the most impact. His voice is the loudest, but not one to be overused, the strategy goes.
The signals often come from Candida Wolff, Bush's legislative affairs chief.
"She hollers when she wants the president's assistance in speaking to a particular member of Congress," said Joel Kaplan, the deputy chief of staff for policy. "And I expect that she'll holler a few more times before all is said and done."
Meanwhile, two of Bush's Cabinet members have made almost a full-time job of lobbying for the bill. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez may as well be considered tenants on Capitol Hill, Kaplan quipped.
When the immigration bill stalled in the Senate, Bush got personally involved in resurrecting it.
He called Republican Sens. Jon Kyl of Arizona, Trent Lott of Mississippi and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky while in Europe. On his flight back to the U.S., he called Kyl and Democratic Sens. Ken Salazar of Colorado and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts.
Then, the next day, he made a rare visit to Capitol Hill to lobby Republican senators at a closed-door meeting.
The rescue effort had at least some effect; later that week, Senate leaders reached a deal to get the bill back up for debate.
"Even a weakened president is a potent political force," said Republican strategist Rich Galen. "He may well get something out of this. I was with everyone else when the thing got pulled from the (Senate) floor, saying, 'Well, that's that.' But here it is again."
The Senate voted Tuesday to revive the bill. It must still overcome another make-or-break vote as early as Thursday that will also require the backing of 60 senators. And there is no guarantee that it will ultimately attract even the simple majority it needs to pass.
Bush is still making calls to senators, although the White House picks and chooses when it will disclose details.
"He's been on the phone," spokesman Tony Snow said Tuesday. "I'm not going to tell you how many or who he has talked to."
The president, not surprisingly, projects confidence. He talks of when, not if, the Senate will pass a bill to his liking in the coming days.
"When successful in the Senate, we'll be reconvening to figure out how to get the bill out of the House," he told advocates of his plan.
Trouble hovers there, too. Underscoring the intraparty fighting over immigration, House Republicans meeting in a private conference took the rare step Tuesday evening of voting overwhelmingly to oppose the Senate measure.
In his June 12 visit to the Capitol, Bush was gracious and grateful to fellow Republicans. At other times, his strategy has been more blunt.
Along the way, Bush has accused critics of the legislation of not reading the details of the bill; of potentially lacking courage; of engaging in scare tactics; of searching for a reason to oppose it; and of not doing what's right for America.
With all this, Bush's aides scoff at criticism that Bush should be more personally engaged in lobbying for the bill. So does he.
"My administration is deeply involved in the issue," Bush said. "I feel passionate about the issue."
(This version CORRECTS Galen's quote to say a weakened president is a "potent" force, instead of "potential" force.) )
It's pretty clear the Omnibus Amnesty bill is not only anti-American, it is un-American.
Plans should be made to imprison the Democrat leadership of the Senate as soon as is reasonably possibly (within the law and all that stuff of course).
When the AP has a rah-rah article about Bush and his involvement with illegal immigration...that speaks volumes to me.
Hel-lo... This country is in the state it is because of RepubliPukes and DemoCraps.
When you vote for the lesser of two evils, you're still voting for evil.
You miss the point. The point is that more and more in my area, many jobs have a bilingual component which means that people who have lived here their whole lives are shut out of jobs-not all of them lousy jobs either.
My son is a good kid. He is a hard worker and very reliable. He is a straight A student. He had been involved in some underage drinking (all his friends do it), I have warned him and warned him. They will nail you in Georgia. It is against the law. However, since his cousin got caught at a party, he has ended this-thank the lord. My nephew was charged with underage drinking (he is 19). This is a felony in Georgia which I find surprising. It is going to cost my sister a fortune, and he may not be able to afford college tuition because of it. Hopefully, my nephew will not end up in jail.
By the way, I really hope this doesn’t pass. I pray you are right.
Which is why I like Hunter in the primaries to try to keep a republicrat like Rudy or Fred or McCain, et al. off the ballot in November.
No, miss the point. The problems you talk about your son having all comes before this bill. We’ve seen the same stuff up here for over twenty-five years now, since even before the Reagan amnesty.
Excellent Graphic!
Thank you. In this much, at least, we agree.
” to turn America into a ONE-PARTY SOCIALIST STATE. Think about that. “
Yea , like Japan .
Yep, it says a lot.
Ping
Just say NO to Illegal Alien Amnesty!! Keep calling!! It’s NOT OVER!!
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
Toll free to the US Senate:
1-800-882-2005. (Spanish number)
1-800-417-7666. (English number)
Courtesy of a pro-amnesty group, no less!!
Yes! Isn’t it wonderful! I can’t believe they would have the nerve to try this again anytime soon.
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