Thread: NOW WHAT?

Am I dreaming or is this for real? What to do next? Anyone?


Associated Press
Update 23: Senate Panel Approves Immigration Bill
By DAVID ESPO , 03.27.2006, 08:47 PM



The Senate Judiciary Committee approved sweeping election-year legislation Monday that clears the way for 11 million illegal aliens to seek U.S. citizenship, a victory for demonstrators who had spilled into the streets by the hundreds of thousands demanding better treatment for immigrants.

With a bipartisan coalition in control, the committee also voted down proposed criminal penalties on immigrants found to be in the country illegally. It approved a new temporary program allowing entry for 1.5 million workers seeking jobs in the agriculture industry.

"All Americans wanted fairness and they got it this evening," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., who played a pivotal role in drafting the legislation.

There was no immediate reaction from the White House, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. said he hoped President Bush would participate in efforts to fashion consensus legislation. "The only thing that's off the table is inaction," said Graham, who voted for the committee bill.

The 12-6 vote broke down along unusual lines, with a majority of the panel's Republicans opposed to the measure even though their party controls the Senate.

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., seeking re-election this fall in his border state, said the bill offered amnesty to illegal immigrants, and sought unsuccessfully to insert tougher provisions. He told fellow committee members that the economy would turn sour some day and Americans workers would want the jobs that now go to illegal immigrants. They will ask, "how could you have let this happen," he added.

Committee chairman Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania was one of four Republicans to support the bill, but he signaled strongly that some of the more controversial provisions could well be changed when the measure reaches the Senate floor. That is "very frequently" the case when efforts to reach a broad bipartisan compromise falter, he noted.

In general, the bill is designed to strengthen enforcement of U.S. borders, regulate the flow into the country of so-called guest workers and determine the legal future of the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally.

The bill would double the Border Patrol and authorizes a "virtual wall" of unmanned vehicles, cameras and censors to monitor the U.S.-Mexico border.

It also allows more visas for nurses and agriculture workers, and shelters humanitarian organizations from prosecution if they provide non-emergency assistance to illegal residents.

The most controversial provision would permit illegal aliens currently in the country to apply for citizenship without first having to return home, a process that would take at least six years or more. They would have to pay a fine, learn English, study American civics, demonstrate they had paid their taxes and take their place behind other applicants for citizenship, according to aides to Kennedy.

"Well over 60 percent of Americans in all the polls I see think it's OK to have temporary workers, but you do not have to make them citizens," said Kyl.

"We have a fundamental difference between the way you look at them and the way I look at them," Kennedy observed later.

Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain, a potential presidential contender who worked with Kennedy on the issue, told reporters the street demonstrations had made an impact. "All those people who were demonstrating are not here illegally. They are the children and grandchildren" of those who may have been, he said.

The committee met as several thousand demonstrators rallied at the foot of the Capitol. Many were members of the clergy who donned handcuffs and sang "We Shall Overcome," the unofficial anthem of the civil rights era.

After a weekend of enormous rallies - a crowd of as many as 500,000 demonstrators in Los Angeles - thousands of students walked out of class in California and Texas to protest proposals to crack down on illegal immigrants.

"Do you see the community? Do you see how many people didn't go to work today," asked Janet Padron, attending a rally in Michigan.

Her remark underscored one of the issue's complexities.

Senators on all sides of the issue agreed that illegal workers hold thousands of jobs that otherwise would go unfilled at the wages offered.

The agriculture industry is "almost entirely dependent on undocumented workers," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

In purely political terms, the issue threatened to fracture Republicans as they head into the midterm election campaign - one group eager to make labor readily available for low-wage jobs in industries such as agriculture, construction and meatpacking, the other determined to place a higher emphasis on law enforcement.

That was a split Bush was hoping to avoid after a political career spent building support for himself and his party from the fast-growing Hispanic population.

"America should not have to choose between being a welcoming society and being a lawful society," Bush said at a naturalization ceremony for new citizens. "We can be both at the same time."

Bush has said he favors a guest worker program, but it is unclear whether the administration would insist on a provision to require illegal immigrants already in the country to return home before they are allowed to apply for citizenship.

At several critical points, committee Democrats showed unity while Republicans splintered. In general, Graham, Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas and Sen. Mike DeWine of Ohio, who is seeking re-election this fall, voted with the Democrats. That created a majority that allowed them to shape the bill to their liking.

Feinstein won approval for the five-year program to permit as many as 1.5 million agriculture workers into the country. "It will provide the agriculture industry with a legal work force and offer agriculture workers a path to citizenship," she said. The vote was 11-5, with Republicans casting all the votes in opposition.

Kennedy prevailed on a proposal to allow an additional 400,000 green cards for future immigrants, regardless of the industry where they find jobs.

The Senate hacks still have to kick it around...hopefully they will get into fist 'a cuffs!

After that it's supposed to go back to the House...

I'd say nothing will get done till after they see if they are going to be re-elected....you'd think they would at least close the border!

"All Americans wanted fairness and they got it this evening," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., who played a pivotal role in drafting the legislation.

Ahem! You don't speak for me, Fat Boy!

I'd like to give you an earful about your "fairness!"

Wonder how many illegals keep the grounds at the Kennedy Compound.

it only passed the Judiciary Committee. We've known they would vote 12-6 for a few weeks now. So this is news??

What Now? Call Senators and Representatives. This bill hasn't passed yet. Tom Tancredo says the house will NEVER pass a guestworker program. Frist knows it....he can stop this bill in its tracks if he wants to....so concentrate on Frist first, but try to reach ALL Senators.

I read the article on the Forbes(business) website. I understand it is not news, what bothers me is the timing and the statements of the supporters including apparently, dubya. What amazes me is the action in the context of the illegal alien and supporters protests. It all seems prepared to make the maximum chaos over this issue.
The fact is the report makes people that are not well read on the legal mechanics and our issue, think this is a done deal. It is clear that the will of the people, lawful ones anyway, is about (attempted) to be subverted, by the minority that bush and his bipartisan corporate cronies are composed of.

DcSA; I long to be as confident as you on where this is going.

The Call to Act is now. Any protest smaller than the illegals is not advisable. We concentrate on our legal and voting options.

This committee is the most cowardly, out of touch bunch of political hacks who ever lied their way into office. Lindsay Graham, in particular, should darn well know better.

There will be a political price to be paid when this is said and done. A lot of these people are making some erroneous political calculations which will come back to bite them in the private parts.

Look for a few surprises in the Senate this week. The fever to be President will cause some Senators to do some interesting things, like Bill Frist. We'll see if he has the guts to put his reported bill forward in place of the travesty that came out of the judiciary committee.

At least Chappy can always be counted on to be a liberal suck-up.

Originally Posted by naturalglenn

What amazes me is the action in the context of the illegal alien and supporters protests. It all seems prepared to make the maximum chaos over this issue.

This was all planned back in December. Don't you remember Viscente Fox saying "we reject this anti-migrant (House) bill"? And he called on business groups, churches, their Consulates, and Mexicans in the US to speak out against it. The planning for all this started 3 months ago.

Ok I understand, but what completely blows me away is the incredibly obvious collusion of representatives on up to the "president". It is plain treason to plan political fiascos that endanger our Nation, in defiance of Standing Federal Law. It's TREASON.

Sorry, William, but we need to

PROTEST NOW!!

So as not to lose the pissing contest, we would have to make absolutely sure that we could gather up greater numbers in a protest than the illegals did, or it would be viewed by our own public as a loss. That would be very bad, as the uninformed public would then think the issue lost, and then move on to watching ballgames and eating hohos.