Posted on 06/14/2007 3:55:45 PM PDT by Alaphiah123
Key senators tentatively agreed on a plan to revive a stalled immigration bill on Thursday, aided by President Bush's support for a quick $4.4 billion aimed at "securing our borders and enforcing our laws at the work site."
Officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said Republican and Democratic supporters of the bill were presenting their proposal to the Senate's top two leaders, who in turn arranged an early evening meeting to discuss it.
Precise details to be presented to Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., were not disclosed.
In general, according to officials familiar with the discussions, Republicans and Democrats would each be accorded roughly a dozen chances to amend the measure, with the hope that they would then combine to provide the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster by die-hard opponents. The officials who described the emerging plan did so on condition of anonymity, saying the negotiations had been conducted in private.
The legislation has generated intense controversy, particularly for provisions envisioning eventual citizenship for many of the estimated 12 million immigrants now in the country unlawfully. The bill also calls for greater border security and a crackdown on the hiring of illegal employees.
"We're going to show the American people that the promises in this bill will be kept," Bush said, two days after launching a personal rescue mission.
Any agreement is subject to approval by Reid, who has said repeatedly it is up to Bush and Republicans to line up the votes needed to advance the measure if it is to be brought back to the Senate for debate. Reid, who has expressed misgivings about elements of the bill, sidetracked it last week after supporters gained only 45 of the 60 votes needed.
Republicans accounted for only seven of the 45 votes, and Reid said earlier this week, "We'll move on to immigration when they have their own act together."
Bush's decision to personally announce support for the accelerated funding reflected concerns expressed by Republican senators at a closed-door meeting on Tuesday. Several told him their constituents doubted the government was capable of following through on a commitment to enforce immigration laws.
In a letter sent to Bush before the meeting, Georgia Republican Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson wrote, "This lack of trust is rooted in the mistakes made in 1986, and the continued chaos surrounding our immigration laws. Understandably, the lack of credibility the federal government has on this issue gives merit to the skepticism of many about future immigration reform."
Under the legislation as drafted, money for border enforcement would be collected gradually as illegal immigrants pay the fines and fees needed to achieve legal status. The letter asked Bush to secure the border before other elements of the immigration measure go into effect, and the president agreed in his remarks to the Associated Builders and Contractors.
"One common concern is whether the government will provide the resources to meet the goals in the bill. They say, 'It's fine to talk about it, are you actually going to do something?'" he said.
"To answer these concerns I support an amendment that will provide $4.4 billion in immediate additional funding for securing our borders and enforcing our laws at the work site," he said.
"By matching our benchmarks with these critical funds, we're going to show the American people that the promises in this bill will be kept."
Two Republican supporters of the legislation, Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Jon Kyl of Arizona, had previously proposed advanced funding.
"The moment the presidential signing pen meets the paper these funds will be available," Graham said in a statement welcoming Bush's remarks.
But Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., an opponent of the legislation, took a different view. "I appreciate the effort to fund border security, but there's simply no reason why we should be forced to tie amnesty to it. If the administration was serious about fulfilling the border security promises, then this funding should have been supported all along, not offered at the last minute to attract votes to a bad bill."
Even a decision to return the bill to the Senate floor does not guarantee its passage, given the intense opposition. "We've got people out there on both sides really ready to burn the place down," said Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi, the second-ranking Republican. "I don't think we ought to let that happen."
The calendar, too, presents obstacles to any attempt to pass the measure before the Senate begins a scheduled vacation in two weeks. Should they choose, critics of the immigration measure could slow progress on other measures Reid wants debated in the next two weeks. The effect would be to further reduce prospects for passage of the immigration bill.
I agree with that.
And quite a few nursing homes IIRC. The Frist family is or were major players in it.
Very astute puppy!
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Is nobody concerned by the prevailing assumption by the Senators and House members of Congress they are the “Ruling Class” opposed to the “Representative Class”?
We must continue to humble them.
I listened to Tony Snow’s line of crap on this on Laura Ingraham. Laura handed Tony’s ass back to him, but he and Bush are undeterred at pushing this crap through.
When I heard this I thought it was even more ridiculous and desperate... Not only they want (again) to pass this bill, but they want to bribe us with our own money so we will pay even more for it!
That’s typical liberal approach to things, it sounds like it came from the mouth of Ted Kennedy himself who is no doubt a “spiritual” adviser on this travesty.
Legal immigrants (including Mexicans) are usually small-to-medium business owners and vote Republicans. I know some personally. Illegals are not and are not expected to be, they are looking more for the benefits that they and their families will be “entitled” to and provided for by Democrats who are in the “protection” racket for all the “minorities”.
Me too....added a couple of ryme lines...
And...
1. Close borders.
2. Enforce existing laws
3. Deport illegals.
4. NO amnesty.
Money follows...
Happy birthday.
/Salute
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.
That will be the fault of conservatives for alienating millions of new voters.
June 14, 2007
Dear
Thank you for contacting me about the problem of illegal immigration in our country. It is extremely important to me that I hear the opinions and concerns of Oklahomans, especially on such a pressing issue.
As you know, a bi-partisan group of senators reached a compromise with President Bush on a comprehensive reform bill (S. 1348), which was debated by the Senate and ultimately failed to receive enough support for a final vote for passage. Please be assured, I was opposed to this bill and I am glad the legislation did not succeed.
First, I am disappointed in the way Senate leadership handled this immigration bill. It was released in the middle of the night, merely days before debate began, bypassing the Senate Judiciary Committee and preventing senators from taking the time necessary to scrutinize such lengthy, divisive legislation. Furthermore, debate time was extremely limited and very few amendments to the bill were allowed consideration.
Although there were good provisions in the bill, such as a merit-based legal immigration system, the overall bill would have been harmful to our nation and would have done nothing to solve our problems with illegal immigration. I previously outlined fundamental principles that would guide my votes during immigration reform. I support legislation that secures our borders and enforces existing law, but does not contain an amnesty provision of any kind. Unfortunately, S. 1348 offered amnesty to 12 million illegal immigrants and did little to secure our porous borders.
During the debate, I offered an amendment to require that existing border security and immigration laws be enforced, and the enforcement be certified by Congress, before any provisions in the new bill could take effect. The American people expect their laws to be upheld, but have lost faith in Congress and the federal government to defend our nation from illegal immigration. Unfortunately, my amendment was not agreed to, and in the end, I could not support the existing legislation.
It is likely the Senate will consider immigration reform legislation again in the near future. Please know my position on the issue has not changed, and I will continue actively working for reform that protects our borders and upholds our rule of law.
Again, thank you for continuing to contact me on this issue. Best wishes.
Sincerely, A
Tom Coburn, M.D.
United States Senator
TC: ef
Another case of conservatives shooting themselves in the foot.
I'm in East Tennessee and in my area the biggest concentration of illegals seems to be in two places. One is Morristown where there are some major industrial parks including furniture factories and to the west the DOD Crown Jewell called Oak Ridge. How can our government tell have us living under color coded alerts and yet have persons illegal or not from a nation known to steal our weapons technology living and working there?
The impact on these areas? I live in a rural county near Oak Ridge. Just 5 years ago I felt safe going there late at night unarmed. Not anymore. This area is also saturated with D.O.E. and D.O.D. contractors for everything from the National Lab to nuke weapons plants.
A few years back right after 9/11 a TVA security officer found three M.E. nationals at a dam upstream from Oak Ridge at about 3:00am. The computer files were down so he couldn't run their back ground but he got their names. One was wanted and they were on expired work Visa's. Am I making a mountain out of a mole hill? Well during WW2 the War Department set up machine gun placements at that dam in fear it would be bombed and the Manhattan Project underway a few miles down stream destroyed. That was our standard of national security back then with limited weapon capabilities for our enemies to use against us.
If someone/anyone wants in this country bad enough to live and work here then they want it bad enough to wait their turn. Get a clear back ground check and a clean bill of health as well. Our open borders have opened us up to diseases that were virtually gone from our nation. These nations do not take medication correctly and as a result a person can be carrying a super drug resistant bug.
Last and this is a true story I am not making it up. How bad does someone coming here wish to adapt and become Americans?
Three brothers were born to Immigrant parents from Romania actually 5 were I think but three were noted for success. Mrs Horowitz had three sons one named Moses, one named Jerome, and the other Samuel. The boys were born after they got here. They sent them to public schools and they spoke very clear English despite the fact the mother could not say Samuels name correctly. It came out as Shemp. Yea Shemp. As in Moe, Curly {Jerome} and Shemp the three Howard brothers later to be part of the Three Stooges. Can you detect any hint they are born to Romanian immigrant parents? I can't. The illegals are not here to be Americans. They are here to make us become their culture and insist we adapt to their needs. What a difference several generations makes.
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