My fear is based on article posted elsewhere on this forum stating that it is entirely possible that those supporting CIR (including Republicans) will hold off introducing the Senate bill until after the November, 2010, elections, and then push amnesty legislation through by using the votes of "lame duck" Democrats who have been defeated. This "Yes" vote count could be expanded by those from retiring lawmakers of both parties such as Sen. George Voiniovitch, a socially liberal Republican from Ohio, and retiring moderate Democrat Sen. Byron Dorgan of N.D., who fought hard against amnesty in the Senate in 2007 because he believed its included Guest Worker Program was unfair to U.S. workers. The present House version of the new CIR bill does not include a Guest Worker Program. However, that does not mean the Senate version will not - getting a foreign Guest Worker Program is one of the primary goals of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and, hence, of many in the GOP. Thus, Republican Toomey's defeating Sen. Specter in Pennsylvania could only serve to bring into Senate a former president of the ultra pro-business "Club for Growth" who probably would be a sure vote for CIR.

In addition to Sens. McCain and Lindsay Graham, John Cornyn (R-TX) already has stated that he supports CIR legislation, as the majority of elected lawmakers and government officials at all levels in the American Southwest appear to. And, in the House, Mike Pence (R-IN) introduced a bill during the 2007 debate which would have granted legal visas to persons who "returned to their home countries" to apply to re-enter the United States. Sen. Hutchison (R-TX) announced that she planned to sponsor the Senate version of Pence's "touch-back amnesty" legislation. Of course, for 60% of illegal aliens currently in the United States, "returning to their home countries" would have meant simply crossing the Rio Grande River from Texas into Mexico and turning around.