Thread: Brownback Rescinds Immigration Bill Support

Brownback rescinds immigration bill support
By Stephen Dinan
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
April 26, 2007


Republican presidential hopeful Sen. Sam Brownback said yesterday he no longer supports the immigration overhaul bill that he helped pass in the Senate.
"I would not vote for the same bill," Mr. Brownback told reporters yesterday morning, saying that after the bill passed the Senate he had a chance to study its effects and decided it led to too much immigration.
It's a major reversal for a man who is listed as one of seven original sponsors of the bill, along with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, and Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, who spearheaded the bill.
"What we got through was what we could get through the Senate and move the process forward," Mr. Brownback said in explaining his vote. "There are things in it that I don't think are good within that."
He said the bill would lead to too much "chain migration," allowing immigrants to sponsor family members to join them in the United States. Mr. Brownback said he supports sponsorship of spouses and children, but that thinks siblings should be excluded.
The immigration issue has Republicans spinning, particularly those running for president, as they try to match their rhetoric to the beliefs of conservative primary voters.
It's a particularly difficult issue for Mr. Brownback and Mr. McCain, who have been asked repeatedly about their positions on the campaign trail and who have distanced themselves from their own bill.
Mr. Brownback, speaking at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor, did not specify what changed to turn him against the bill, but his Senate office spokesman, Brian Hart, said the situation is different this year.
"The congressional landscape has changed with no Republican-led House conference as a backstop, and the provisions of the bill that the senator did not care for would not likely improve after a bill was passed by a Democrat Senate," Mr. Hart said.
Mr. Brownback refused to take a position on whether to rescind "birthright citizenship," which allows automatic citizenship to children born in the United States, even if their parents are illegal aliens.
Mr. Brownback said he is not willing to say whether he supports rescinding what he calls the "anchor baby proposal" because he thinks it is protected by the Constitution and can't be changed by law. Still, he acknowledged "a fudge" on the issue, saying he would still look at proposals.
Mr. Brownback, in his second full term as senator from Kansas, has had difficulty gaining traction in the crowded Republican field.
"This will take time, but it will happen over a period of time," Mr. Brownback said, adding that he is putting organizations in place in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. "It's not a national race where it starts out. It starts out in three states where it's a retail politics race."
In a recent breakfast with reporters, three social conservative leaders questioned Mr. Brownback's presidential candidacy and were looking for a new champion: former Sen. Fred Thompson.
Mr. Brownback, though, said to give him time: "Hold the fire. This is way early."







http://www.washtimes.com/national/20070 ... -8486r.htm

Maybe his feet were getting a little warm ...and he realized the voters really were paying attention....?!?!?

"I would not vote for the same bill," Mr. Brownback told reporters yesterday morning, saying that after the bill passed the Senate he had a chance to study its effects and decided it led to too much immigration.

Now I could be wrong but if you are in the position where you are voteing on bills that affect a whole nation wouldn't you read the whole bill first and consider it carefully, not vote first, read after and them decide it led to too much immigtation. But we all know this is what most of them do, we probably know more about what is in some of these bills than they do.

Looks like spending alittle time in public is educating some of them about how the majority in this country truely feels about illegal immigration, I just wish they would take some of their finding back to the ears of the Demacrates.

Changing your minds now, we are not falling for, it just tells us you were incompetant in the first place and are not intelligent enough to be president of the United States, You see thats the problem we have now!

Yes, maybe the 'Hold their feet to the fire' American lobbying did make this impact - great work if so!

This is quite remarkable for the usual open-Borders Brownback.

This could very well be Presidential candidate posturing -- which though also means he's getting an earfull thru his thick head - that Citizen Voters are sick and tired of ANY amnesty guest-worker program for illegal ALiens.

I think we better keep an eye on him.

Originally Posted by RonLaws

Yes, maybe the 'Hold their feet to the fire' American lobbying did make this impact - great work if so!

This is quite remarkable for the usual open-Borders Brownback.

This could very well be Presidential candidate posturing -- which though also means he's getting an earfull thru his thick head - that Citizen Voters are sick and tired of ANY amnesty guest-worker program for illegal ALiens.

Its not remarkable, he's doing what they all do, telling us what we want to hear, not what he truly believes. He's hearing from the public to secure our borders, enforce our laws and no amnesty so he is trying to make us think he has changed his views, but we will not be fooled, lets see him vote for a bill that gives none of this to illegals.

He was a co-sponsor and he hadn't considered the impact? Just WOW.

Originally Posted by ProudAmericanFamily

He was a co-sponsor and he hadn't considered the impact? Just WOW.

Read that again, folks. That's the most incisive comment made all night.

Well said, PAF! This is the kind of crap we MUST overcome!

Originally Posted by PinestrawGuys

Originally Posted by ProudAmericanFamily

He was a co-sponsor and he hadn't considered the impact? Just WOW.

Read that again, folks. That's the most incisive comment made all night.

Well said, PAF! This is the kind of crap we MUST overcome!

They are up there everyday writing bills they don't know what the impact will be and don't care, because they will not listen to anyone that knows what it will happen, they are not interested.
They are to busy listening to Chamber of Commerece and LA RAZZA who have one thing in mind, Chamber of Commerce--cheap labor, LA RAZZA more poor hispanics who only want to do the work Americans won't do!

I don't believe anything any of them say anymore. This is the first time in my lifetime, that I actually hate my government officials.

They are ruining American citizen's lives not only with this invasion, but globalization, they only pay attention to the rich, the "think tanks" and believe Americans are so stupid they couldn't understand a thing!

We are controlled by the rich. George Soros has links to the MSM and controls them!

We need a complete overhaul of our so-called politicians!

Our society has become so diluted, that if they think these new un-assimilated immigrants will be loyal to this country, enough to join the armed services, they are wrong.....if this invasion is not stopped, I predict soon, we won't even be able to defend this Nation.