Posted on 10/22/2004 6:28:36 AM PDT by Klickitat
^&*$%#@$%^#!
Sorry for the spleen-venting so early in the morning, but read this from the AP, headlined "Bush wants intelligence bill free of immigration provisions:"
The White House yesterday asked Congress to reject an attempt in the House to place illegal-immigration measures in an intelligence reform bill.
The Bush administration wants "an effective bill that both Houses can pass and the president can sign into law as soon as possible to meet the nation's security needs," national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and budget director Joshua Bolten said in a letter to congressional leaders.
Bush earlier called for lawmakers to hurry and finish their negotiations. "These reforms are necessary to stay ahead of the threats," the president said in a campaign speech Monday. "I urge Congress to act quickly so I can sign them into law."
The letter came as congressional negotiators prepared for their first public meeting today to negotiate a compromise on legislation to reform the intelligence community based on the recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission. While behind-the-scenes staff meetings have occurred, no resolution has been reached on illegal immigration measures that Republican House leaders want and that the Senate refused to consider.
The House bill would expand the number of illegal immigrants subject to quick deportation by increasing the amount of time they would have to be in the United States to be exempted from speedy deportation.
It also would force asylum seekers accused by their home countries of being involved in terrorist or guerrilla activities to prove that their race, religion, nationality or political opinion would be a "central reason" for their persecution if deported.
"The administration strongly opposes the overbroad expansion of expedited removal authorities, and has concerns about the provision addressing asylum; these sections should be modified or dropped altogether," the letter from Rice and Bolten said.
The White House provided a copy of the letter to The Associated Press yesterday...
It's stupid White House stunts like this that make it very tempting to just stay home on Election Day.
As I reported on Oct. 6:
In an even more shameful betrayal, the White House is now reportedly pressuring stalwart House Republicans into scrapping important immigration enforcement provisions of the House Intelligence Bill that speed up the deportation process and bar illegal aliens from obtaining valuable driver's licenses or using easy-to-fake foreign consular ID cards. Why? Because they are politically unpopular with ethnic constituencies.
This race is not just about who is better able to hunt down and destroy our enemies abroad. It's about who is more willing to hunt them down right here, jail them, kick them out and keep them out of our home. President Bush has shown he can stand up to the international Axis of Weasels. He must show the same resolve against La Raza, the immigration lawyers and Teddy Kennedy.
When I wrote that column, I was criticized by Bush supporters for my "bad timing" and for not being a "team player." You're right, some readers commented, but why don't you just keep quiet until after the election?
My bad timing? NO, I WILL NOT KEEP QUIET.
At a time when President Bush is trying to convince undecided voters that he is the better choice to protect this country, the last thing the White House should be doing is flaunting its open borders agenda. The immigration enforcement provisions in the House version of the bill, H.R. 10, are supported by House Republican leaders and are the very measures suggested by the 9/11 commission report.
See here and here for detailed legislative analysis.
As I have noted many, many, many, many times, deportation and asylum reform are keys to effective immigration enforcement. You could put 30,000 paramilitary troops along the border, and it still wouldn't be enough unless you stopped the catch-and-release games being played inside our borders.
And as Dan Stein of FAIR points out:
"The 9/11 Commission did not limit the scope of its investigation to intelligence failures, and passing a reform bill that address only intelligence failures is tantamount to fixing the hole in sail while ignoring the crack in the keel. 9/11 was a multifaceted failure of intelligence, bureaucratic turf wars, immigration policy and enforcement, and common sense that led to catastrophic consequences.
For Congress to cave-in to special interest pressure and remove the immigration reform provisions of the bill and claim that the problem has been fixed would be an act of unprecedented irresponsibility. To deny that immigration reforms were even called for is simply an insult to the intelligence of anyone who has read the report.
I couldn't put it any better than one of my readers did this in an e-mail to me this morning:
Kerry doesn't need an "October surprise," the Republicans are doing it to themselves!
$%^#@!!
The White House comment line is 202-456-1111.
The Senate conferees are:
* Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) - 202-224-2523
* Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) - 202-224-3353
* Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) - 202-224-5641
* Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) - 202-224-2841
* Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) - 202-224-4774
* Sen. Mike DeWine (R-OH) - 202-224-2315
* Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) - 202-224-6253
* Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) - 202-224-4041
* Sen. Carl Levin(D-MI) - 202-224-6221
* Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) - 202-224-2152
* Sen. John Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) - 202-224-6472
* Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL) - 202-224-3041
* Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) - 202-224-3224
ping
Michelle is exactly right.
Michelle Malkin for president!
This is a good article and all but I think it needs some pics of Michelle to really have an impact :)
Well, I may support your candidacy, I may donate to your candidacy, I may pray for you, GW.
But that doesn't mean you'll get everything you want. It's time to be president, not El Presidente. You may be infatuated with Fox, but we aren't.
Maybe we ought to hang onto this legislation until after the election, and see ...
She must be getting desperate for attention. I no longer see her columns in very many newspapers.
Not to mention that she is relying on an AP article not exactly the beacon of truth!
You know, much as I like President Bush, it is going to be real hard to believe that the war on terror is effectively being waged as long as he refuses to deal with the borders and get this invasion under control, by whatever means necessary. ANYBODY culd get in through the southern border, not just the disease ridden, unskilled parasites that come here to leech off our resources, but terrorists, whose only purpose in life is to destroy us. Why doesn't the president see that??
ping
If these immigration measures are stricken from this bill and it passes, you can believe it will be the end of interior enforcement in the US, because ONE czar will have discretion over every nickel financing enforcement despite varying regional necessities. Who do you think that czar will answer to? Right - the one with his/her hiring and firing, not the US citizens.
And we thought President Bush was a Conservative....
"And we thought President Bush was a Conservative...."
The President is a Republican, not necessarily a conservative.
Are you insinuating Ms. Malkin is "racist"?
>>Maybe we ought to hang onto this legislation until after the election, and see ...<<
it get buried under pork bills?
This is the only time of the Presidents term that he may listen to us about what we want done regarding the open borders. If he is re-elected then he will be able to say,"The voters didn't push it, so I can leave the borders open!"
>>And we thought President Bush was a Conservative....<< we were WRONG! That's why I am not voting for this Socialist again.
ff
CALL THE WHITE HOUSE TO STOP PRESSURING CONGRESS TO DROP THE IMMIGRATION PROVISIONS OF H.R. 10
This is, perhaps, the most urgent alert we have sent you all year. If you are at all able, please phone the White House today or tomorrow and ask them to stop pressuring Congress to strip the immigration provisions of H.R. 10.
Our Capitol Hill team has learned that the White House is applying severe pressure to House and Senate Conferees, as well as House and Senate Leadership, to strip the immigration provisions of H.R. 10. The White House has launched a full-scale attack on the immigration provisions of H.R. 10.
If you are able to take only one action to stop illegal immigration for the rest of the year, please make this call!
WHITE HOUSE COMMENT TEL.LINE:
Here is the number for the White House Comment line:
202-456-1111 & 202-456-1414
Persuading the White House to stop pressuring Congress to gut the immigration provisions of H.R. 10 may be our last chance to make sure the immigration-related recommendations of the 9-11 Commission that we have fought so hard for all month make it into the final version of the bill to respond to the recommendations of The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9-11 Commission).
WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOU CALL
Your message can be as simple as:
"My name is _______, and I am calling to ask the President to stop pressuring Congress to drop any of the immigration provisions of H.R. 10."
If you have additional time, you might want to add some of the following:
This is an issue of national security. The immigration provisions of H.R. 10 were recommended in the 9-11 Commission's report. The 9/11 Families for a Secure America say, 'Only HR 10, without weakening amendments, does what the 9/11 Commission recommended' on immigration."
Just weeks prior to the election, it may concern voters to learn that the White House is leading the effort to strip the immigration provisions of H.R. 10."
IF YOU HAVE TIME FOR TWO CALLS, CALL HOUSE AND SENATE GOP LEADERSHIP
If you can only make one call, please call the White House.
House and Senate GOP Leadership are under tremendous pressure from the White House to cave and gut the immigration provisions of H.R. 10. That is why it is so important that the House and Senate GOP Leadership hear from Americans who want them to keep the immigration provisions of H.R. 10 in the final bill. Your phone calls will help give them the support they need to stand firm and support the immigration provisions of H.R. 10.
WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOU CALL THE LEADERSHIP
Your message can be as simple as:
"My name is ___________, and I am calling to urge Senator ______ (or Representative ______) to resist White House pressure to give up the immigration provisions of H.R. 10"
If given more time you might want to add: I hope Sen./Rep. ______ understands that: 1) immigration reform must be an integral part of any 9/11 response, as the 9/11 Commission clearly pointed out; and 2) the most important immigration provisions in the house bill -- secure ID documents for everyone, expedited removal of certain aliens who enter the country illegally, and the increase in Border Patrol and ICE agents -- come directly from the Commission's report.
BACKGROUND H.R. 10, the primary legislative response in the House of Representatives to the recommendations of The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9-11 Commission), was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday, October 8th. A Senate 9-11 response bill, S. 2845, which includes NO immigration provisions, was earlier passed by the Senate. The 9-11 Commission made several recommendations with regard to immigration that, in the Commission's opinion, would increase security and help prevent a future attack. Many of the Commission's immigration recommendations were included in H.R. 10 such as provisions to: prohibit driver's licenses to illegal aliens; expedite removal of illegal aliens; increase Border Patrol and ICE agents; and prevent Federal agencies from accepting or recognizing consular ID as valid proof of identity. Every one of the immigration provisions recommended by the 9-11 Commission would help reduce illegal immigration and improve homeland security. Together, they would make major strides toward reducing the current illegal alien population of some 8-11 million and toward preventing future illegal immigration. Now House and Senate Conferees will hammer out in Conference Committee a final bill based on H.R. 10 and S. 2845.
GOP HOUSE AND SENATE LEADERSHIP PHONE LIST
It's easier to just say there is a half dozen who want the boirders closed but they aren't speaking very loudly.
bingo
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