Thread: Immigration defeat clouds final Bush years

Immigration defeat clouds final Bush years

by Marie Sanz
1 hour, 36 minutes ago



The collapse of US President George W. Bush's immigration overhaul plan has doomed his central second-term priority even as that has delighted some of his core supporters, who hated the measure.

Senior Bush aides mounted a campaign to blame the White House's Democratic foes for the stinging defeat while telling wary lawmakers and the divided US public that progress was still possible on the deeply volatile issue.

"He's obviously disappointed by the setback, but based on the latest information we have, there still is a good chance that this will move forward," top adviser Dan Bartlett said on the sidelines of a summit in Germany.

Bartlett made no reference to fierce opposition from the conservatives who make up the core of Bush's waning support and stand with him on the deeply unpopular Iraq war but fiercely opposed the immigration overhaul and denied the White House a much sought-for victory on the domestic front.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, who championed the legislation, were trying to convince lawmakers that the initiative was still alive, a Republican congressional source said.

"They're saying 'this isn't dead, we're going to fix this,'" the source told AFP on condition of anonymity. "I don't know who's going to sign on, frankly."

The legislation, aimed at bringing out of the shadows some 12 million undocumented immigrants now living in the United States, had been characterized as the most sweeping overhaul of US laws on the subject in two decades.

Democratic leaders, who had given Bush's proposals a wary welcome, criticized what they characterized as delaying tactics by Republicans who introduced amendment after amendment to a law they never planned to support.

Some Republican senators said they needed the time and space to fix legislation that many of Bush's conservative core supporters denounced as an "amnesty" that would fail to secure US borders.

"The failure of this amnesty bill is a victory for fairness, and the rule of law," Republican Senator Tom Coburn (news, bio, voting record), normally a close White House ally, said in a statement.

"I'm told that there are still talks going on between the leadership about bringing the bill back and resuming debate," said Bartlett. "It's incredibly important that comprehensive immigration will move forward."

But asked whether immigration changes could still happen before Bush leaves office in January 2009, the Republican congressional aide said that the issue had led to a "splintering" of Republicans and was probably stalled for good.

"I don't think this is possible under this administration. First of all, you have a limited timeline -- I'm being generous by saying 'until October' -- and then you have primary seasons," ahead of the 2008 presidential vote, the aide said.

The legislation's chief backers, who had worked every angle late into the night on Thursday to save the fragile consensus around the bill, said Friday they hoped to salvage the legislation.

"This matter is on life support," said Republican Senator Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record). "And it's those that are determined and committed that are able to be successful in moving the process and moving it forward."

Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy, a liberal icon and skilled legislator whom the White House had hoped would steer the bill to passage, declared that "it takes a lot of patience to get things done here in the United States Senate."

"The borders are broken, the immigration system is broken. People are living in fear and terror. There needs to be enforcement of the law. And there needs to be fairness and a humane policy to treat people," he said.

Republican Senator Jon Kyl (news, bio, voting record), the bill's conservative champion, said he was "disappointed" that his efforts had not paid off and declared: "Both sides can point fingers as to who was to blame."

The immigration "grand bargain" was aimed at granting a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants, establishing a merit-based points system for future immigrants and a low-wage temporary worker program.

It included a border security crackdown, punishments for employers who hire illegal immigrants and an attempt to wipe out a backlog of visa applications from those who have gone through legal immigration channels.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070608/pl ... 0608175826

Even the budget office stated that enforcement was not good in the bill. Don't ask me to believe trash, show me that you are serious first and then we can have a discussion.