For Now!

Feinstein/Craig illegal alien farmworker measure “jettisoned

By Michelle Malkin • May 21, 2008 10:33 AM

Last night, I told you about the GOP letter to Harry Reid pressuring the Dems to strip the Feinstein/Craig illegal alien farmworker amnesty from the Iraq emergency supplemental appropriations bil.

Sometime in the wee hours of the morning, it happened:

President George W. Bush’s request to fund U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan until his successor can take office hit a rocky patch in the Senate.

Democratic leaders were forced to jettison provisions to award work permits for immigrant farm labor and seasonal workers just hours after beginning debate Tuesday on legislation to add domestic programs to President Bush’s war request.

Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, kept companion legislation to fund the war waiting in the wings in an attempt to gain leverage over the White House and Senate Republicans. But it was not at all clear that Reid’s strategy would work, given the Senate’s unwieldy rules.

At the same time, the White House renewed its veto threat, reminding everyone involved that the trouble-filled path to Senate passage is but one more step in an even more hard-to-figure battle.

Reid brought up the domestic add-ons in an unusual move designed to win their adoption — over opposition from the White House and GOP conservatives — before turning to legislation providing $165 billion (€106 billion) to conduct military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan into next spring….

…Reid has signaled he wants the non-war extras to get a vote before the war funding itself, but it’s a high-wire strategy.

“It is going to be extremely difficult for us to get from where we are today to completing this legislation,â€