Thread: Healthcare bill may cost immigration overhaul

GOP senator: Healthcare bill may cost immigration overhaul

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has indicated that he'd lend key support to an immigration effort, but he's angry about Democrats' tactics in advancing a healthcare bill.

March 20, 2010

Reporting from Washington
The lone Republican senator inclined to support the Obama administration's bid to pass a major immigration overhaul said Friday that if a healthcare bill passes this weekend, the immigration effort is dead for the year.

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is considered a crucial player in the immigration debate -- a Republican prepared to cross party lines and vote for a bill that would provide a path to legal status for the 11 million people living in the U.S. illegally.

Graham has spent months working with Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) to draft an immigration bill. The two met privately with President Obama last week, delivering a three-page blueprint.

On Thursday, the Washington Post's website published an op-ed article coauthored by Graham and Schumer laying out a proposal seen as the basis for a politically viable bill.

But Graham's support has never been a sure thing. In recent days, he had made it clear that he was unhappy about the procedures Democrats are using to push the healthcare bill to a vote.

"If the healthcare bill goes through this weekend, that will, in my view, pretty much kill any chance of immigration reform passing the Senate this year," Graham said Friday, two days before thousands are expected to march in Washington in support of an immigration overhaul.

Neither Schumer nor the White House would comment on Graham's statement.

With Senate Democrats one vote shy of a filibuster-proof majority, Graham is positioned to make or break any immigration bill. To date, Schumer's office and the White House have not succeeded in recruiting another Republican who might back an immigration overhaul.

More broadly, Graham's announcement is a worrisome sign for a White House with many more domestic projects on its agenda. Graham has been seen as a potential ally in efforts to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Advocates of an immigration overhaul were angered by Graham's statement.

Eliseo Medina, a union official who attended a White House meeting last week on immigration, said:

"If the Republicans want to be responsible for killing immigration reform, they are going to send an unmistakable signal to the Latino community that they don't care about them. . . . And the Republican Party will have to take their chances at the polls in November and in 2012."

peter.nicholas@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and- ... 3811.story

Wake up, li'l Lindsey.....You don't want to be in the unemployment line too, d 'ya?

Here is a story about the Hispanic Caucus posted here earlier, which sounds a little like the usual political blackmail and horsetrading.
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-191908.html

Immigration reform. immigration reform. immigration reform. Can we please for once you guys in office call it what it is? : Total Amnesty for Twenty Million Illegals inc Welfare Subsidies. Period. Thank You.
Jesus Christ.

How hard was that?

a fellow patriot

Originally Posted by wayneman

Immigration reform. immigration reform. immigration reform. Can we please for once you guys in office call it what it is? : Total Amnesty for Twenty Million Illegals inc Welfare Subsidies. Period. Thank You.

That's just the 20 million who will get amnesty, don't forget the 20 million more relatives they will sponsor.

Gee Lindsey, your boss promised the Hispanic Caucus amnesty in exchange for their health care votes, I cannot believe you would become a bigot and deny green cards to all your La Raza buddies who maintain your golf course.
(sarcasm off).
I mean really, Lindsey has been sucking up to the illegal Hispanic groups since day one, why would he disappoint them over a little thing like the Constitution which he ignores anyway?

Eliseo Medina, a union official who attended a White House meeting last week on immigration, said:

"If the Republicans want to be responsible for killing immigration reform, they are going to send an unmistakable signal to the Latino community that they don't care about them. . . . And the Republican Party will have to take their chances at the polls in November and in 2012."

Because of the recent elections and due to the actions of the present administration the Republicans may do just fine in November and 2012.

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-5039--0-0.html

And the Republican Party will have to take their chances at the polls in November and in 2012."

So many of them came out for Juan McAmnesty!
(sarcastic ratbastard)

"If the Republicans want to be responsible for killing immigration reform, they are going to send an unmistakable signal to the Latino community that they don't care about them. . . . And the Republican Party will have to take their chances at the polls in November and in 2012."

Oh, that's right, no one votes except Hispanics.

In my town, folks are upset enough about the healthcare bill. Amnesty would push them over the top. The republican candidate for congress is not particularly strong but he would be a shoo-in if amnesty keeps coming up.