Frist Says Immigration Debate Coming Next Week in Senate

steinreport(.)com

Frist Says Immigration Debate Coming Next Week in Senate
May 9, 2006

"Senate Majority Leader Frist said today he hopes to schedule debate on immigration legislation next week, aiming to finish the legislation the following week. Frist, in an exchange with Minority Leader Reid, said the two leaders would continue to negotiate the number of amendments and the makeup of the Senate conference team before the immigration legislation could return to the floor," CQ's Congress Daily reports. "Before the Easter break, Frist pulled the carefully crafted compromise because he and Reid could not reach an agreement on the two sticking points. Frist also said he would continue discussions with GOP senators who are demanding votes on numerous amendments. 'We're doing our very, very, very best to -- to focus each and every day on the amendments,' said Frist, adding he would like to whittle the list to 'substantive amendments' and not 'amendments just for political reasons.'"

FAIR has an updated side-by-side comparison of the "compromise" bill being floated along with immigration enforcement bills

:? I was wondering when we would get an announcement from Frist. I hope they considered what Americans want, and not what racist groups lile LaRaza and LULAC want.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercuryn ... 539884.htm

Posted on Tue, May. 09, 2006


Senate may revisit stalled immigration bill next week

BY MICHELLE MITTELSTADT
The Dallas Morning News

WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans said Tuesday that they'll bring a sweeping immigration overhaul up for debate next week, even though they have yet to resolve differences with Democrats that stalled the bill a month ago.

But Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said flatly that he won't permit the bill to come up unless he and Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., strike a deal.

"It won't come up without an agreement reached," the Nevada Democrat told reporters. "No."

Perhaps as many as 70 senators, Republican and Democrat, are believed to support a compromise that would increase border security, create a temporary worker program for future arrivals, and place millions of illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship.

The plan foundered last month, however, amid procedural wrangling between the two leaders. Though the sticking points remained unresolved Tuesday, Frist's chief of staff, Eric Ueland, expressed confidence that they would be cleared in time for the bill's consideration next week.

The fight is over how many amendments can be offered to the controversial bill; and which senators will be named to the negotiating team to work out a compromise with a vastly different House bill that focuses only on increasing immigration enforcement.

Since the bill was derailed last month, hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in Dallas, Los Angeles, Milwaukee and other cities demanding legalization for the nation's 11 million-plus illegal immigrants.

While many in both parties contend the rallies and a work-and-school boycott are having little effect on the Senate debate, they are keenly aware that immigration holds promise - and peril - for their parties. One sign of that: They continued to skirmish Tuesday over which party bears responsibility for the deadlock.

But some contend the fallout will hit both parties equally if a deal isn't brokered.

"There's going to be a pox on all of our houses," said Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., who termed it "absolutely ludicrous" that Reid and Frist haven't been able to resolve their differences.

Even as the legislative wheels are grinding slowly on immigration, Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said Tuesday that she intends to offer up for a vote a guest worker plan that would be truly temporary in nature, without a path to permanent residence.

Her plan, modeled on a Canadian program, would allow employers to bring in foreign workers for the agricultural, restaurant, construction and hotel industries.

Hutchison, like fellow Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn, does not support the pending immigration deal, viewing it as an amnesty. Instead, she wants to tackle border security first before any consideration of a legalization program.

In the interim, she said, her plan could provide a legal route to work in the United States for future foreign workers and illegal immigrants who would be willing to return to their home country to apply.

"That would allow people to get workers and allow people who want to come here but don't necessarily want to be citizens to be able to jump in and go immediately into the system while we are securing the border," she said.