Posted on 06/11/2007 1:38:54 PM PDT by 300magnum
WASHINGTON - President Bush is putting his influence within his own party to the test Tuesday as he pleads personally with skeptical Senate Republicans to resurrect his immigration bill.
Despite his confident tone Monday about the measure's fate, Bush is facing a hostile audience that has shown little appetite for following his lead on the contentious issue.
Bush left no room for the possibility that his bid to legalize up to 12 million unlawful immigrants while tightening border security might die. "I'll see you at the bill signing," he said while traveling in Bulgaria.
Still, weakened by his sagging poll numbers and a sense within GOP ranks that the president has lost touch with his core supporters on immigration, Bush may well lack the clout he would need to persuade Republicans to back the measure, say lawmakers and strategists.
"Each time this debate comes up, the president's approval ratings go down, and that's not a positive in terms of (lawmakers') willingness to listen to him on the issue," said independent pollster Scott Rasmussen.
"What happens when the immigration debate becomes dominant in the news is that the Republican base begins to have doubts, and the president's support among them drops as well," he added.
Bush, who helped shape the bipartisan immigration compromise that collapsed in the Senate last week, will huddle with Republicans on Tuesday at a luncheon in the Capitol aimed at persuading them to give the measure another chance.
The bill exposes deep divisions among both parties, but it was solid GOP opposition that stalled it when all but seven Republicans blocked a Democratic effort to put it on a fast track to passage.
Senate Democratic leaders wrote Bush on Tuesday saying it was up to him to lean on Republicans to back the measure.
"It will take stronger leadership by you to ensure the opponents of the bill do not block the path to final passage," said Majority Leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record), D-Nev.
Reid said he would be willing to bring immigration back to the Senate floor in coming weeks if he could be assured enough Republicans would support the bill.
So far, however, the president's efforts to give the bill a personal boost most visibly in his recent harsh criticism of its opponents in speeches during Congress' Memorial Day break appear to have had the opposite effect.
Some Republican supporters of the bill said those remarks when Bush accused those who dismiss the measure as "amnesty" of trying to frighten the public cost the president sway among Republicans.
With the measure facing a critical test last week, Sen. Trent Lott (news, bio, voting record), R-Miss., joked that Bush should stay out of the debate and instead focus on the annual G-8 meeting of industrialized nations he was attending in Germany. "His comments last week were not helpful," Lott said.
On the other side of the Capitol, some Republicans say that on immigration, Bush lacks the strong influence that helped him muscle through other signature initiatives that divided the GOP, such as the No Child Left Behind education law and the Medicare prescription drug benefit.
"President Bush is a force of nature on Capitol Hill," said Rep. Mike Pence (news, bio, voting record), R-Ind. "But on this issue, the president has certainly been downgraded to a tropical storm. He doesn't have the gale-force winds of previous years of his administration."
That's true because Bush is out of step with Americans not just Republicans on the issue, added Pence, a conservative who is pushing for immigration changes but opposes the Senate bill.
Still, even with his stature diminished, supporters of the measure say a strong nudge from Bush could give Republicans the political protection they need to back the contentious bill.
"It makes a difference to members of Congress that the president is pushing all-out for it, not because they want to do him a favor, but because it gives them cover," said Tamar Jacoby of the Manhattan Institute.
Jacoby said the immigration measure is "dangerously close" to being killed by a small but vocal conservative minority that is incensed at Bush for his position and fighting to keep Republican lawmakers from following him.
"The president is trying to tip the balance the other way," Jacoby said.
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The bill is S 1348.
I hope to one day never have to read BUSH again...he is delusional and dangerous...
HE IS WRONG.
Dead wrong. Doesn’t matter what else he’s done - and parts of what he’s done are very good. Others, like Kennedy’s No Child Left Behind bill, Kennedy’s welfare/Medicare Bill for democratic (senior) voters, and Kennedy’s Amnesty Bill, and Kennedy’s McCain-Fiengold Bill are WRONG.
He - BUSH - pushed every one of those through OVER conservative (all republican) opposition and WITH the full support of his democrat enemies and their RINO allies - and he should be corrected/edited/condemned for pushing those problems and long-term financial canyons on America.
Without Bush’s PUSHING and PROMOTIONS, we would be in better shape as a country because NONE of those would have passed.
Now, I can’t tell you WHY Bush is pushing these pieces of legislation. I can only assure that he is dead wrong about them. And equally dead set on getting HIS wrong-headed, wrong-sensed priorities through.
And - for these actions domestically - I fully condemn him.
Imposing penalties on employers is foolishness. So now you want to further burden the private sector (small business owners) because the Fed and State Gov't can't handle their own responsibilities. That to me is just foolishness. With fake IDs and all the rest it is just a ridiculous burden to put on the private sector.
We need to fix the terribly flawed guest-worker program (which GWB wants to do)...we also need further border control (which is somewhat different then border security)...but the two do overlap.
Best regards, we'll agree to disagree on the whole on this one it seems.
This issues has shown (sadly so) that there is a segment of our base which is really of the same pathetic ilk as the DEM's base....(they are just right politically more often).
Regards,
Anyway, it works and it is the first time that I've ever had a number that gets me to my Senator.
I'm going to keep the number and hopefully lose the Senator.
Correct. He has no clout & no coat tails. He’s not running again but many Republicans are and I think they’ve gotten the message.
Continuing - "Jenna Bush...My son I had with that Arkansas prostitute...George P. Bush...Chelsea's offspring..."
A few employers get caught and pay big fines, believe me it will become self policing. I sell businesses for a living and when the buyer comes to do due diligence, its the first thing they ask for (I-9 records). We disagree on Bush. And yet I am a conservative. He isn’t. He values Kennedy’s opinion and Kennedy should be retired for doing more harm to this country than anyone. I think you are now in the minority on how you view Bush. But hey, for now, it is still a free country. Good luck to us.
Just say NO to Amnesty!! Keep calling!! Its 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
Thanks for the info. Saved for reference
He no on our side, Kimosabe.
Yes, NCLB was another Kennedy-GOP combo monstrosity.
We won’t get fooled again.
He also talks with forked tongue.
bump
“And why is there such a need for this bill in the 1st place?”
1) The cheap labor lobby wants their supply more secure and away from the danger of it getting interrupted by the yahoos who want to close the border.
2) La Raza wants their power enlarged and millions more to be here, and the Mexican govt want to confirm the economic structure of remittances, and the political power of mexifornia etc.
3) Democrat party elites want voters
The only thing in it for taxpaying Republicans is that maybe we get some cheaper yard work done. Or course we culd ask college kids instead. So it Hardly seems worth the $2.5 trillion it will cost us... must be Bush’s fuzzy math.
The issue of what to really do with illegal immigration is a matter of will:
1) Will we build the border fence?
2) Will we enforce the law in the workplace and at jails?
3) Will we end anchor babies etc.?
I agree!
Which is another way of saying we need an American president rather than a Globalist president. We haven't had and American president since Reagan.
Are u out of your mind?
What part of giving our national sovernity away, don’t you understand?
This bill is not just another bill, where differences of opinion won’t affect National Sovernity.
This bill is EXACTLY THAT.
BUILD THE FENCE FIRST, THEN WE CAN TALK ABOUT WHAT TO DO WITH THOSE ALREADY HERE.
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