Posted on 06/27/2007 9:10:15 PM PDT by Mount Athos
U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) released Wednesday a report from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) which says the new Senate immigration bill contains a major loophole in border security. Supporters of the bill say it provides $4.4 billion in immediate mandatory spending for border enforcement, but according to the CRS analysis, the funds could also be used immediately to implement the amnesty provisions in the bill.
“This is just another example of how this bill claims to do one thing but does something else entirely. It’s another example of an empty promise being used to buy votes for amnesty,” said Senator DeMint. “The supporters of this bill have been running around trying to convince people that this money will be used to secure the border first, but now we know that’s not the case. If you read the fine print, the bill says this money can also be used for amnesty.”
According to the CRS report provided to Senator DeMint, the mandatory spending in the bill could immediately be used for Z visas. It says, “(r)eceiving, processing, and adjudicating applications for the Z visa authorized by Title VI of the Act is one of the trigger mechanisms outlined in Section 1; this means that funding from the Immigration Security Account could be used for this purpose.”
In addition, the report says the funds could be used for Y visas and other programs once the trigger mechanisms have been met but it does not require the Secretary of Homeland Security to certify the trigger. The report says, “S. 1639 does not explicitly stipulate whether the certification required by Section 1 would have to take place prior to funding being made available for the additional purposes outlined in Section 2(C).”
“Not only can this money be used for things other then border security and enforcement, it looks like another backdoor trick to promote amnesty,” said Senator DeMint. “If Congress appropriates money later this year for the border, the money provided in this bill will turn into a slush fund the Administration can use to ensure illegal immigrants are legalized.”
Assuming this bill is finally killed, Bush will be a lame duck the rest of his term. And if I could venture a guess, he's overdrawn on that political capital account he once talked about.
It’s always a red flag when they tack money onto a bill. And it takes a lawyer to read the lawyer speak.
This bill is similar to the one defeated a couple of weeks ago in that a few Senators are trying to keep the real contents from being known.
Kennedy held the previous one while Reid substituted the 2006 version as a prop to be voted on. The intent was to later replace the contents with the 2007 version — after the bill passed.
Sessions became aware of this and skewered Reid for the tactic. Kennedy still held the contents. Kennedy did release then late one Saturday night, but not before The Heritage Foundation had gotten hold of a copy of the rough draft and published it on their website. That was when a few Senators and many other citizens began to read the various provisions.
A similar pattern has taken place with this current version. Sessions again complained that the actual bill has not been made available. Apparently, the only copy in existence was being held (again) by Kennedy. When Reid called for the first vote, Sessions demanded that the bill be read into the record. The Chair did not even have a copy of the bill and Reid had to track down a copy to give to the Chair. At that point, only Senators in the ‘inner circle’ had even seen the bill.
The last I heard, the actual contents of the bill are still unknown, as Team Kennedy did some more changes in the early afternoon.
The backers of this abortion, especially Harry Reid, could not have done a worse job. From the git-go, they have made dumb, dumb, moves.
We are being lied to 24x7 by Bush and the rest of these whores.
Thanks to Sen DeMint for allowing this to see the light of day.
IMO, nuke ‘em all. ;O)
Ping... This will infuriate you........!
Hope you're doing well.
: )
And Kyl and Kennedy were no doubt fully aware of their scam attempt. None of these so-called “Grand Bargainers” can be trusted.
Send the info to all the talk show hosts. Too bad we don’t have the cash to print it on billboards across the country.
Domenici from New Mexico mentioned this today also so I think a lot of the senators are aware of it.
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