Thread: Senators Unhappy With Immigration Plan

Senators unhappy with immigration plan
By Adam Sichko
POST-DISPATCH WASHINGTON BUREAU
Tuesday, May. 29 2007

WASHINGTON — The small group of senators who unveiled ambitious immigration
reforms expected to vote on the legislation before Memorial Day.

Instead, many of their Senate colleagues have sounded sharp notes of discord
during grueling debates that will continue when lawmakers return to Washington
this week. And Sen. Claire McCaskill, for one, isn't convinced the plan can
survive.

"I feel like Goldilocks," said McCaskill, D-Mo. "Either it's too hot or too
cold as far as I'm concerned, and I don't think we've found the 'just right'
yet.

"And we may not," she added. "I'd be a 'no' vote at this point."

Many senators, including those from Missouri and Illinois, have been quick to
voice their complaints. The intense debate has frequently pitted party members
against one another and cast doubt on whether the sweeping plan can outlast a
seemingly endless stream of proposed changes.

As Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo., said, "The devil's in the details." But
it's more than the details causing senatorial angst. The bill's major
initiatives are also proving to be stumbling blocks, including:

— Creating a temporary guest worker program.

— Beefing up border security with a fence, technologies and thousands more
border control agents.

— Providing a path to citizenship for the estimated 12 million illegal
immigrants in the United States.

"We all understand this is a work in progress," said Sen. Edward Kennedy,
D-Mass., one of the bill's creators.

Senators aren't the only people concerned about the immigration issues.
McCaskill's office workers, as well as those in the office of Sen. Dick Durbin,
D-Ill., said constituents have inundated them with telephone calls.

"It would be unfair to characterize the response we've had as anything other
than adamantly opposed," McCaskill said. "It's the nature of the beast that
there really hasn't been anybody who's called that's been happy with it."

Durbin and McCaskill expressed varying concerns about the guest worker program,
which would allow immigrants to work in the U.S. for two to six years.

Bond offered an amendment curbing the path-to-citizenship plan, which he
labeled as "amnesty" that "rewards illegal immigrants." Bond and McCaskill
voted Thursday to support a different amendment that eliminated the path to
citizenship. The majority of senators, including Durbin and Sen. Barack Obama,
D-Ill., voted against that idea.

BASED ON POINTS

On the Senate floor, Obama spoke out against a proposed points-based immigrant
application process giving education and workplace skills higher value than
family ties.

He called the idea a "radical experiment in social engineering" and said he
plans to offer amendments to get rid of it.

"How many of our forefathers would have measured up under this point system?
How many would have been turned back at Ellis Island?" Obama asked.

Obama's stance on immigration will get special scrutiny as his presidential
campaign proceeds; he has said he hopes "to be able to support" the final bill.

Durbin projected that the bill would get through the Senate and the House, and
said the true test would come when the two chambers try to craft a final bill
in conference.

"I just think doing nothing is not an option," Durbin said. "We can't walk away
from our responsibility. We have to make some serious changes, even though
they'll be controversial — and some will be painful."

Immigrant advocacy groups are lobbying senators to push ahead, said Frank
Sharry, head of the National Immigration Forum.

"The debate has been quite a roller-coaster ride," he said. "We're both
fighting like hell and biting our fingernails."

__________________________________________________ ___________________
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/s ... enDocument

Good old Durbin and Obama again.

The bill's major initiatives are also proving to be stumbling blocks

Because the bill has loopholes big enough to drive truckloads of illegal aliens through and when they cross the border they become citizens!!!!!!!

That's what's wrong with the bill! It's Amnesty!

Dixie

don't be fooled by either durban or obama, they are both very strong open border supporters and neither cares about the legal American taxpayer.

I wouldn't turn my back on Hillary, either. You can just bet she'll vote for this ridiculous amnesty bill just like she did last year. If you sort through the politicians who are running for President, there's not too many of them who don't agree with this bill.

Just had an email reply from Obama. The usual form letter crap sending you via link to his POSITION............

Bringing People Out of the Shadows

America has always been a nation of immigrants. There are millions of people living in the shadows that would like to fully embrace our values and become full members of our democracy. For the millions here illegally but otherwise playing by the rules, we must encourage them to come out of hiding and get right with the law. Barack Obama supports a system that requires undocumented immigrants that are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English, not commit crimes, go to the back of the line for citizenship, and then after all those conditions are met, they would be granted the opportunity to stay in the United States.

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/immig ... he_border/

AMNESTY........any way you look at it!

Hey senator! - if you're not happy with it, just don't vote for it. Just don't.

Duplicate

http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... ic&t=65669

Originally Posted by girlygirl369

There are millions of people living in the shadows that would like to fully embrace our values and become full members of our democracy.

This letter is so full of BS! Our Democracy is based on the rule of law and respect for the Constitution! Amnesy pisses on both!

For the millions here illegally but otherwise playing by the rules,

Oh my God, their entire existence is based on breaking law after law, they are not in any way "playing by the rules"! Each illegal alien steals $20,000 a year from Americans!

Barack Obama supports a system that requires undocumented immigrants that are in good standing

None of them are "in good standing" they are all foreign criminals!!

Originally Posted by Lone_Patriot

don't be fooled by either durban or obama, they are both very strong open border supporters and neither cares about the legal American taxpayer.

Exactly! I live in Illinois too, and it is clear that neither of them puts the American citizen first in this matter. Durbin tried to "sound tough" in another article, but I am sure that is only because of all the angry phone calls he's received. Even though he said that illegals need to go to the end of the line, he never said that the line wasn't in the US!

TBH, I almost find Obama's criticism of the bill even more worrisome. If you read his comments in this article, he doesn't like the point system. He seems to have a problem with the US showing preference for people who might actually contribute something when they immigrate, over those who just suck up the social services. It sounds like he would rather go for "family ties" and allow each minimum wage earning immigrant, who would probably pay little, if anything in taxes, to bring in his/her mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, etc. Do I need to mention what this will do to our schools, social security system, medicare program, etc? Grrrrr.