Keep immigration bill alive
President Bush deserves credit for helping breathe life into the immigration reform bill that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had given up for dead. The president's rare luncheon visit with Republican senators on Capitol Hill last week and his pledge to support putting $4.4 billion into border control have helped give the Senate bill an outside chance of passing before the July 4 holiday.
The legislation would allow an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants to legalize their status and eventually earn an opportunity to apply for citizenship after paying a fine and meeting other requirements. It has been dubbed "The Grand Bargain" by its bipartisan advocates, who seek a balanced solution to the immigration crisis.
It is not at all certain that the president has persuaded enough Republican senators of the merits of comprehensive immigration reform to secure the 60 votes needed to fend off a filibuster, but the renewed effort has pushed Sen. Reid into devising a plan to escape a filibuster through a legislative manipulation known as the "clay pigeon" maneuver. Passage of the bill depends on convincing enough Republicans to agree to a compromise.
The efforts of South Carolina's senior senator, Lindsey Graham, may prove decisive. On ABC's "This Week," on Sunday he sent this message to his Republican colleagues: " ... this is the best deal we're ever going to get." He described the immigration mess as "a problem that no one party can solve by itself." Sen. Graham told The Associated Press that he would be "going senator to senator" this week to persuade Republicans to get on board. Unfortunately, he is unlikely to persuade South Carolina's junior senator, Jim DeMint, to change his mind. The AP reported that he plans to block the legislation when the House and Senate versions come up for reconciliation in conference committee.
According to the AP, the president has allotted time in his schedule so that he can "jump in as needed with pointed remarks and calls or meetings with lawmakers" to keep the legislation moving.
At the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast last week, Mr. Bush recommitted to the passage of immigration reform as a key goal of his presidency. "Each day our nation fails to act, the problem only grows worse," he said. "I will continue to work closely with members of both parties to get past our differences and pass a bill I can sign this year."
That's the kind of dogged determination needed to give a fighting chance to this critical piece of legislation that would finally address not only an enormous social problem but one that is inexorably tied to the security of our nation.
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Comments
This article has 4 comment(s)
Posted by jkauser on June 22, 2007 at 7:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Your editorial comment regarding what you call an "immigration" bill being inexoribly tied to the security of our nation, is laughable.
Where was your concern for national security 12 million Federal criminals ago?
Posted by sporter41 on June 22, 2007 at 8:15 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This is just awful! You fail to recognize two things:
(1) We have laws on the books that are not being enforced.
This new set of laws only piles on more bogus legislation that no one in Congress really has any intention of enforcing. Lindsey Graham has already done his best to thwart aggressive anti-terrorist procedures and now he jumps ship to promote legislation that sells-out everything that's good in this Country, that will exhaust our social and welfare systems, and damage forever more the economic and political foundation upon which this Country was founded.
(2) The pending legislation for immigration reform actually
holds our Borders HOSTAGE! Grahams thumbs his nose at Americans, and especially South Carolinians, when he dangles our broken borders in front of us and says, "If you want this fixed, pass my Bill."
Six years after 9/11, Graham and these other sorry excuses for Americans in Congress have allowed this Country to remain an open sieve to invasion, a direct violation of the US Constitution. As a result, Graham and Company have allowed this Country to remain more vulnerable to enemy attack than anytime in our history.
I'm sure there are any number of words that can properly describe the insidious nature of characters like Graham, the word cowardice comes to mind. But I can't remember in our history when we've ever had such a sad excuse of legislators as can be found in our Capitol today. Who do they really work for? Soros? "K" street? Vincente Fox??
This is so sad. Our Country is being sold to the lowest bidder and we have no leadership to defend us. I'm sure Graham gets a big charge when he can "moon" South Carolinians every chance he has.
Michael Thomas
5594 Katy Hill Rd.
Wadmalaw Island
Posted by Dawes on June 22, 2007 at 11:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I live in California, and I don't want 20 million criminal aliens in our country. The Left keep saying that the only law they broke was crossing the border illegally. I am sorry but how many laws do you think you would have to break in order to KEEP living here, illegally, even if you were working a legitimate job.?
I protest at a day labor site at the intersection of 47th and Martin Luther King Blvd, in Sacramento. It is just one of several. There is usually between 100-200 Day laborers there. They are illegal because I ask them and they are not afraid to say it because they don't believe anything is going to happen to them. If you look up Sacramento County "wanted Posters" you will see that some of those illegals, from that neighborhood, are wanted for murder. Because you can't track them, because of all the aliases, you can only do what we do. We print the posters and take them with us, then take pics of their faces for matching. Alot of extra hardwork for us lazy law abiding Americans who work all week, then protest on weekends! Thank you open border, globalist, corporate sellouts!
Posted by charlene68 on June 26, 2007 at 9:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)
you dont find half as many mexicans in trouble as you do blacks and whites,,, check the statistics!!!!! there are even more blacks incarcerated where i live than whites. if you dont believe it chek it out.