Posted on 04/06/2006 8:33:43 AM PDT by STARWISE
WASHINGTON - In a last stab at compromise, Senate Republicans and Democrats reported progress Thursday toward agreement on legislation opening the way to legal status and eventual citizenship for many of the 11 million immigrants now in the U.S. illegally.
"There's been tremendous progress overnight," said Sen. Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record) of Nevada, the Democratic leader, while Majority Leader Bill Frist also expressed optimism that a long-sought compromise might be at hand.
There was no immediate reaction from President Bush, who has made immigration legislation a key priority.
The developments occurred after Frist unveiled a new bill late Wednesday night on the subject as the Senate headed into a test vote on the most sweeping immigration bill in two decades.
In general, the legislation would provide for enhanced border security, regulate the flow of future immigrants into the United States and settle the legal fate of the estimated 11 million men, women and children already in the country.
It was the fate of the illegal immigrant population that proved hardest to legislate, and it has left the Senate on the verge of gridlock for days.
(snip)
Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., as well as other key senators met before the vote to review terms of a proposed compromise.
In general, it would require illegal immigrants who have been in the United States between two years and five years to return to their home country briefly, then re-enter as temporary workers. They could then begin a process of seeking citizenship.
Illegal immigrants here longer than five years would not be required to return home; those in the country less than two years would be required to leave without assurances of returning, and take their place in line with others seeking entry papers.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
McCain and Kennedy are not worried. Spector seems quite happy.
They all know that new compromised new bill is just McCain-Kennedy with cosmetic changes.
Instead of offering amnesty to all illegal aliens without much paperwork, the new amnesty will require a few phony papers saying that that immigrant was living in the US for 5 years.
Just like the Reagan amnesty, the counterfeit paperwork will overwhelm the federal bureaucrats, (who are easily overwhelmed anyway), and 99% of the illegal immigrants will qualify.
and again... and again....
This crap would never get this far if the Republicans controlled the Senate, Congress, & the White House... Right???
E X A C T L Y correct.
I get it!
I look at two past events as a reference point.
The GOP losses in 1992 led to the Contract With America and GOP wins in 1994.
And Trent Lott did not get broad support from the base to hold onto his Senate Majority Leader seat during the Strom Thurmond dustup because he didn't give them good reason to want to back him.
So IMO the lessons are, a party that thinks it can ignore the base does so at its own peril, but some good tends to come from that, as they stop being so arrogant with their power and return to their core values. And if Bush wants the rank-and-file to rise up and help protect him from impeachment, undercutting them on immigration is not the way to keep them motivated in that regard. He is demotivating the base in a manner worthy of its own Despair.com poster.
Sad, but very funny!~
Screwn again.
We got to this point by not putting our foot down with the republican congressman when we first saw these things coming. It appears the only way to fix it is to remove them, let them see the light and come back in four years as viable candidates.
My house is in order enough to endure four years of democrat control if it means coming out on the other side with a more conservative party.
I think if every fed-up American conservative changed their party affilliation and sent money elsewhere ---- THAT WOULD SEND A CLEAR MESSAGE TO D.C.
Maybe someone will listen.
Doesn't mean necessarily voting that way on election day.
The GOP needs a wake-up call. AND SOONER RATHER THAN LATER.
3 TIMES? Who is going to keep track?
What they don't address is the fact that only about 20% of the illegals will comply. The rest will ignore this and NOTHING HAS CHANGED! They have NO provisions for punishing those in the 80% group.
The failure to obtain the votes for cloture is on the McCain-Kennedy bill.
The new 'compromise' between RINOs and RATs, (the extreme McCain/Kennedy bill barely watered down) is a revised version that, the way I understand it, has yet to be voted on.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong....I'm still trying to sort through various reports.
What happens to the ones who don't volunteer to leave? Let me guess...nothing.
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