Bush immigration bill push tests clout

Associated Press ^ | JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS

[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.

[Obie Wan]

if the Democrats keep the house and the senate and win the presidency what kind of immigration bill will we have then?

You know what,that very question was being discussed the other day on talk radio by Michael Graham and a member of the Heritage Foundation and the concensus was it wouldn’t be any worse.Besides Teddy Kennedy co-authored it so how much worse could it get ???

[tennmountainman]

“what kind of immigration bill will we have then? That scares me, maybe it scares Bush too.”

The kind of bill which democrats get ALL the blame for and swept out of office faster than the 1994 revolution.

[Principled]

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.

So instead of asserting reasons the bill should be passed, Bush attacks, namecalls, and criticizes opponents for the act of opposition.

What the hell is wrong with him?

[jmj3jude]

I don’t know about that, if the Democrats got free reign on an immigration bill, would they get blamed—not by the media or all the new mexican voters. It just scares me, I know this is not a good bill, but anything democrats would come up with without obstacle's scares me more!

[RightWingConspirator]

This repeated amnesty effort will certainly wipe out any support or influence that he has left.

[Condor51]

President Bush is putting his influencewithin his own party to the test Tuesday as he pleads personally with skeptical Senate Republicans to resurrect his immigration bill.

His "influence"????

Right now his "influence" couldn't help someone get elected Librarian. He's a lame duck, a dead POTUS walking. For the GOP he's more toxic than ebola. Hell, he can't even pick his own Joint Chief, Carl Levin is doing it. Too boot he hands of his Iraq mess to some freaking 'War Czar (just what we need another bureaucrat). He might as well stay at his ranch and clear brush until Jan 2009.

[taxed2death]

“Men like him are needed....”

What, egotistical automatons who snub 72% of Americans who are adamantly against this POS sellout?

Ummmmmmmmmmmmm. No.

We don’t need the likes of him. Not by a long shot.

[Joe Boucher]

Go cut some trees on your ranch there Mr. President.
I know I’ve lost confidence in your butt and I was a true supporter.

[taxed2death]

“He has led this world in the WOT like very few could have or would have.”

WOT?

You’re pretty funny.

Not.

A WOT with 6000 unknowns meandering across our borders each week?

Go sell stupid somewhere else please.

[taxed2death]

“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.”

Obviously not a (legit) small business owner....LOL.

$29 gets me all the info I need on a prospective employer to determine if he is here legally or not.

Workplace enforcement works. Read up.

[Brad’s Gramma]

BTTT

[Cacique]

This is not over yet. Bush refuses to give up this easily. It's his stuborn character. He will try to resurect it and call it something else. We have to keep our guard up. We need to keep the pressure up.

STAGE TWO is to go after the people who hire illegals. Start giving them fines and arresting them. Just catch ten or 100 of them on the nightly news. The magnet will dry up and most of the 12 million will go home by themselves.

As an adendum, we should anonymously call the IRS, people working "off the books" means taxes ain't being paid. Make anonymous fliers and hang them around the neighborhood, name names. It's time to embarras these bustards, whether they give to the GOP or Rats, we don't need them.

STOP AMNESTY NOW!! WE CAN DO IT!!

CALL! CALL! CALL! CALL! AND KEEP CALLING TILL THE LINES FRY!

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. This is a bipartisan issue not a Conservative or Liberal issue BUT AN AMERICAN issue.

[Politicalmom]

Why don’t we just go back to a monarchy, then?

He has NO RIGHT to destroy our country with his treasonous ideas.

[toomanylaws]

“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”

Seems like you have a habit of degrading & name calling the people you disagree with.