Thread: Senate Bill unconstitutional tax - the game begins

http://www.washingtontimes.com/natio...1142-2773r.htm

Illegals' tax deal could kill bill
By Charles Hurt
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
June 2, 2006

The long-fought Senate immigration bill that opponents say grants amnesty to 10 million illegal aliens is unconstitutional and appears headed for certain demise, Senate Republicans now say.

A key feature of the Senate bill is that it would make illegals pay back taxes before applying for citizenship, a requirement that supporters say will raise billions of dollars in the next decade.

There's just one problem: The U.S. Constitution specifically prohibits revenue-raising legislation from originating in the Senate.

"All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives," according to the "origination clause" in Article I, Section 7.

Republicans -- including the bill's supporters -- say this will kill the bill, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says he's offered a simple solution. He wants to attach the immigration bill to a tax bill that has already passed the House. It would then proceed as planned to a "conference committee," where negotiators from the House and Senate hammer out differences between the two chambers' immigration bills. "This is a procedural issue that we could overcome," said Carolyn Weyforth, spokeswoman for Mr. Frist.

But Minority Leader Harry Reid won't go along with that fix. His office said yesterday that the concerns raised by Mr. Frist and House Republicans are "technical in nature" and can be ignored.

"If Republicans are serious about enacting comprehensive immigration reform, I've got a deal for them," spokesman Jim Manley said. "All they have to do is nothing. Just let the House and Senate bills go to conference and let the conferees work their will."

The bill as written, however, will never make it to conference, Republicans say. Under House rules, any member can introduce a "blue-slip resolution" to return the legislation to the Senate. And although there are plenty of House conservatives eager to kill the Senate bill any way they can, Hill staffers say it would likely be done based on "policy-blind constitutional issues."

"If there is a blue-slip issue, it is not about policy," said one House aide familiar with the matter. "It's about procedure and the House's prerogative to uphold the United States Constitution."

There is some debate about whether the constitutional ban on Senate revenue bills pertains only to bills whose primary purpose is to raise money or whether it also applies to bills that do so incidentally.

Republicans say that because the concerns already have been raised, they expect the bill to be returned to the Senate.
(SNIP)

Why do I not trust any of this? It smells like more head games on the American public. They had to know that was illegal when they wrote it... or maybe they are all just VERY BAD lawyers.

I am becoming a very cynical person as a result of all this deception. Watching congress do its work is worse than a bad soap opera.

Is this just another foot in the door to hold the border open for more to cross?

But Minority Leader Harry Reid won't go along with that fix. His office said yesterday that the concerns raised by Mr. Frist and House Republicans are "technical in nature" and can be ignored.

Who elected this guy? He says some of the dumbest things I've ever heard. The Constitution is not technical. It's the law of the land.

I say blue-slip it!

Republicans say that because the concerns already have been raised, they expect the bill to be returned to the Senate.

Nothing like a good old US Government Game of Hot Potato!!!

Dixie

Nothing like a good old US Government Game of Hot Potato!!!

too bad they don't have one that is rolling on the floor. Nice call Dixie! LOL