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McConnell wavering on immigration bill

Staff and agencies
21 June, 2007


By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writer 18 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The Senate‘s Republican leader says he is unsure whether he will vote for the immigration bill President Bush strongly supports, underscoring the measure‘s precarious status.

But in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday, McConnell said he would not decide how to vote on the measure until a long series of amendments are disposed of next week.

"At the end of the process," he said, "we‘re going to have to make a call as to whether this is an improvement over the status quo. I‘m not ready to make that call yet."

"In the end, I frankly don‘t know whether this thing will fly or not," McConnell said. "But we will have given it our best shot."

Many business groups, hungry to fill low-wage jobs, support the bill. Many social conservatives, backed by talk show hosts, denounce it as amnesty for illegal immigrants.

The immigration debate has squeezed many politicians, but perhaps none more so than McConnell, a strong White House ally. Some see the legislation as Bush‘s last hope for a major domestic achievement, and McConnell himself has repeatedly said an immigration revision is one of the "big things" a divided government can achieve.

McConnell is "not riding two horses, he‘s trying to decide which horse to ride," Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., a bill supporter, said in an interview. "He has a very difficult role, with the caucus so badly split. He has a duty to represent the caucus."

Some Republican backers of the bill grumble that McConnell has been too tepid. But others defend his approach, saying browbeating colleagues on such an emotional topic might backfire.

Lott has been more outspoken in saying the bill is flawed but needed, and in criticizing those who denounce it. Conservative talk show hosts have blistered Lott in return, while leaving McConnell largely alone.

Privately, some Bush allies say they wish McConnell would openly back the immigration bill. Publicly, colleagues who support the bill have placed McConnell‘s comments and actions in the best possible light.

"I take him at his word," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., noting that McConnell repeatedly has said the Senate bill is preferable to the status quo. "He has been helpful in making sure it comes back" for more amendments and votes, Graham said, referring to last week‘s hiatus that nearly doomed the bill.

McConnell agreed that keeping the process moving, without embracing or rejecting the bill, has been his aim. Pressuring reluctant Republicans to back the president "would be exactly the wrong way to operate on a bill of this type," he said. "It would have been counterproductive."

McConnell noted that earlier this month he voted for an unsuccessful amendment that would have eliminated so-called Z visas for immigrants who lack legal status. Bill supporters called it a killer amendment, but critics call the Z visas the key to granting amnesty to illegal immigrants.

"Substantively, there are things to like and things to not like about this bill," McConnell said.