Republicans Drive Stake into Immigration Reform
Conservative Republicans, intent on punishing illegal residents, killed the efforts at immigration reform in the U.S. Senate. This will apparently end all efforts at immigration reform until after the 2008 elections or even longer if we Democrats fail to secure the White House and shore up our Senate majority. Republican Blogs are eurphoric at the immigration defeat. Click here to sample the NEO-con reactions.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate drove a stake Thursday through President Bush’s plan to legalize millions of unlawful immigrants, likely postponing major action on immigration until after the 2008 elections.
The bill’s supporters fell 14 votes short of the 60 needed to limit debate and clear the way for final passage of the legislation, which critics assailed as offering amnesty to illegal immigrants. The vote was 46 to 53 in favor of limiting the debate.
Senators in both parties said the issue is so volatile that Congress is highly unlikely to revisit it this fall or next year, when the presidential election will increasingly dominate American politics.
The vote was a stinging setback for Bush, who advocated the bill as an imperfect but necessary fix of current immigration practices in which many illegal immigrants use forged documents or lapsed visas to live and work in the United States.
It was a victory for Republican conservatives who strongly criticized the bill’s provisions that would have established pathways to lawful status for many of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants. They were aided by talk radio and TV hosts who repeatedly attacked the bill and urged listeners to flood Congress with calls, faxes and e-mails. Click here to read more in the New York Times.