Thread: Senate `Killer' Amendments Threaten Immigration Plan (Update

Senate `Killer' Amendments Threaten Immigration Plan (Update1)

By James Rowley and Nicholas Johnston

June 22 (Bloomberg) -- Procedural snares and ``killer'' amendments threaten to disrupt the fragile coalition in the Senate that's holding together the most sweeping overhaul of U.S. immigration policy since 1986.

Supporters are scrambling to address the legislative obstacles before debate resumes next week. Opponents plan to try to derail the legislation by using procedural delays and offering poison-pill amendments that may split the coalition that sustains the measure.

Passage of the legislation would give 12 million undocumented immigrants a chance at legal status while handing President George W. Bush a victory on his top domestic priority.

``This is a delicate balance. The wheels could come off,'' said Mississippi Senator Trent Lott, the Senate's No. 2 Republican.

To get the measure back on the Senate's agenda after it was temporarily shelved earlier this month, lawmakers agreed to hold votes on two dozen amendments proposed by both Republicans and Democrats. The list includes some amendments whose passage might doom the legislation.

``It won't take much for this to come crashing down,'' said Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, a Washington group that backs the legislation. ``Every day we wake up trying to figure out how we're going to navigate.''

Legal Status

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said that one amendment would gut the system for companies to verify that employees are legally eligible to work in the U.S. Another proposal would alter a program to give preference to immigrants with job skills, which Republicans demanded.

The outcome will depend on whether the bill's backers can allow some amendments to be adopted, while rejecting those that would split the bipartisan group that has kept the measure alive.

Senate leaders are still drafting the amendments that will be considered when debate resumes next week. Sharry said he regards most of the measures as ``deal killers.''

One proposal, by Iowa Republican Charles Grassley and Democrats Max Baucus of Montana and Barack Obama of Illinois, would eliminate the requirement that employers verify the legal status of every worker in order to detect employees who are undocumented immigrants.

In a June 20 reply to Chertoff, the three lawmakers called the provision mandating the verification of current workers an ``onerous and unnecessary requirement'' on employers.

Under the amendment, current employees would only undergo checks if the Social Security number on their pay stub didn't match the one assigned to their name or was used by multiple people.

Identification

The amendment also would ease identification requirements for U.S. citizens and lawful residents to get jobs. And it would prohibit the sharing of citizens' tax information and Social Security data with immigration authorities after five years.

In a June 19 letter urging its rejection, Chertoff warned that the amendment ``eliminates needed tools'' to enforce the law and would ``continue a flourishing market for fake documents and identity fraud.''

South Carolina's Lindsey Graham, a Republican supporter of the immigration overhaul, said he is concerned that the amendment would render the legislation's enforcement mechanism unworkable.

``If you want employer verification that works, it's incumbent to have tamper-proof ID,'' Graham said.

Senator Bond

Another amendment, proposed by Missouri Republican Christopher Bond, would prohibit the 12 million people in the U.S. illegally to ever seek U.S. citizenship. Some supporters say the plan threatens a core principle of the legislation.

Colorado Democrat Ken Salazar, said Bond's plan ``would probably be a deal killer.''

Bill supporters had managed to defeat other poison pill amendments, such as one that would have ended the chance for undocumented workers to get legal status.

An amendment by New Jersey Democrat Robert Menendez that would change the point system under which applicants for immigration are to be evaluated ``would be a material change'' to a carefully crafted provision in the bill, said Pennsylvania Republican Arlen Specter.

Supporters of the overhaul will probably be able to defeat the amendment, Specter said.

Radical Shift

Immigration-advocacy groups that oppose the new point system call it a radical shift from a policy that has allowed the migration of families to a merit-based system based on job skills and educational achievement.

Menendez's proposal would award points for siblings and adult children of legalized immigrants and naturalized citizens who want to come to the U.S. This would include relatives of the estimated 833,000 people who applied for immigrant visas before May 1, 2005.

Arizona Senator Jon Kyl, the measure's chief Republican sponsor, said today the Menendez amendment would ``substantially upset the rather delicately balanced merit-based point system.'' That's because it would ``reintroduce chain migration'' that ``directly competes with business visas,'' Kyl said.

A Republican leadership aide who briefed reporters said that supporters will accept some objectionable amendments in the expectation they will be fixed after the House passes its version of the legislation. Such amendments would be altered in House- Senate negotiations before final passage, the aide said.

A group of opponents led by South Carolina Republican Jim DeMint vowed to prevent the legislation's supporters from getting the needed 60 votes to conclude debate. Passage isn't ``a foregone conclusion,'' DeMint said. ``We are in the fight.''

Lott said he believes there will be 60 votes to curtail debate and proceed to final passage. Still, he noted, senators ``have a way of changing their minds.''

To contact the reporters on this story: James Rowley in Washington at jarowley@bloomberg.net ; Nicholas Johnston in Washington at 1264 or njohnston3@bloomberg.net .

Last Updated: June 22, 2007 13:43 EDT

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Another amendment, proposed by Missouri Republican Christopher Bond, would prohibit the 12 million people in the U.S. illegally to ever seek U.S. citizenship. Some supporters say the plan threatens a core principle of the legislation.

Hats off to Chris Bond on this one! I'm sure this was the whole intention behind this amendment.
With all the "killer" amendments that have been added by the opposing side, I can't see how this bill would get through because the OBL side would simply not allow, nor would they agree with any of them.
Which is good news for our side, so let's send this to the crap legislation graveyard and put it right next to S. 2611.

Another amendment, proposed by Missouri Republican Christopher Bond, would prohibit the 12 million people in the U.S. illegally to ever seek U.S. citizenship. Some supporters say the plan threatens a core principle of the legislation.

Actually, it would Kill the Amnesty in "the President's" bill.

Dixie

Even if the Bond amendment was passed, it would be removed later on. Bond should NOT be hiding behind the promise of having his amendment heard and should just vote to KILL THIS BILL at cloture.