Thread: Bush immigration bill push tests clout

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Bush immigration bill push tests clout
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS,
Associated Press Writer
57 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - President Bush is putting his influence within his own party to the test Tuesday as he pleads personally with skeptical Senate Republicans to resurrect his immigration bill.

Despite his confident tone Monday about the measure's fate, Bush is facing a hostile audience that has shown little appetite for following his lead on the contentious issue.

Bush left no room for the possibility that his bid to legalize up to 12 million unlawful immigrants while tightening border security — among his top domestic priorities — might die. "I'll see you at the bill signing," he said while traveling in Bulgaria.

Still, weakened by his sagging poll numbers and a sense within GOP ranks that the president has lost touch with his core supporters on immigration, Bush may well lack the clout he would need to persuade Republicans to back the measure, say lawmakers and strategists.

Republicans overwhelmingly favor enforcing current laws over giving unlawful immigrants a path to citizenship, putting Bush on the wrong side of an issue that unites the party, said GOP pollster Tony Fabrizio.

Bush's campaign for the broad immigration measure "is certainly not helpful, particularly with the base," Fabrizio said. "This issue right now is the most glaring one where there is almost unanimity on the other side of (Bush's) position."

The president, who helped shape the bipartisan immigration compromise that collapsed in the Senate last week, will huddle with Republicans over lunch on Tuesday, aiming to persuade them to give the measure another chance.

The bill exposes deep divisions among both parties, but it was solid GOP opposition that stalled it when all but seven Republicans blocked a Democratic effort to put it on a fast track to passage.

Senate Democratic leaders wrote Bush on Monday saying it was up to him to lean on Republicans to back the measure.

"It will take stronger leadership by you to ensure the opponents of the bill do not block its path forward," the letter said.

Majority Leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record), D-Nev., said he would be willing to bring immigration back to the Senate floor in coming weeks if he could be assured enough Republicans would support the bill.

So far, however, the president's efforts to give the bill a personal boost — most visibly in his harsh criticism of its opponents in speeches during Congress' Memorial Day break — appear to have had the opposite effect.

Some Republican supporters of the bill said those remarks — when Bush accused those who dismiss the measure as "amnesty" of trying to frighten the public — cost the president sway among Republicans.

With the measure facing a critical test last week, Sen. Trent Lott (news, bio, voting record), R-Miss., said Bush should stay out of the debate and instead focus on the annual G-8 meeting of industrialized nations he was attending in Germany. "His comments last week were not helpful," Lott said.

On the other side of the Capitol, some Republicans say that on immigration, Bush lacks the strong influence that helped him muscle through other signature initiatives that divided the GOP, such as the No Child Left Behind education law and the Medicare prescription drug benefit.

"President Bush is a force of nature on Capitol Hill," said Rep. Mike Pence (news, bio, voting record), R-Ind. "But on this issue, the president has certainly been downgraded to a tropical storm. He doesn't have the gale-force winds of previous years of his administration."

That's true because Bush is out of step with Americans — not just Republicans — on the issue, added Pence, a conservative who is pushing for immigration changes but opposes the Senate bill.

Still, even with his stature diminished, supporters of the measure say a strong nudge from Bush could give Republicans the political protection they need to back the contentious bill.

"It makes a difference to members of Congress that the president is pushing all-out for it, not because they want to do him a favor, but because it gives them cover," said Tamar Jacoby of the Manhattan Institute.

Jacoby said the immigration measure is "dangerously close" to being killed by a small but vocal conservative minority that is incensed at Bush for his position and fighting to keep Republican lawmakers from following him.

"The president is trying to tip the balance the other way," Jacoby said.

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The bill is S 1348.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070611/ap_ ... mmigration

Bush immigration bill push tests clout

Clout with 28% approval rating??? Clout???