Posted on 04/12/2006 7:47:29 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - The Senate's top Democrat asked Majority Leader Bill Frist on Wednesday to return to work on immigration legislation immediately after the Senate completes a bill with more money for military operations in Iraq and hurricane relief.
Congress is on a two-week recess and the Senate is scheduled to consider the war spending bill when it returns April 25.
Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said in a letter to Frist that the need for an immigration bill was highlighted by rallies across the nation this week protesting a House bill that would subject illegal immigrants to prosecution as felons.
Reid labeled as "confusing" Frist's position on a compromise put together by Sens. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Mel Martinez, R-Fla., that collapsed last Friday after Democrats refused to allow votes on several amendments to it.
"I can only conclude that you had second thoughts about Hagel-Martinez after right-wing members of your caucus made known their strong opposition to it," Reid wrote.
Frist, R-Tenn., responded with a statement saying Reid "needs to stop clogging up the Senate with procedural gimmicks and let members have fair up and down votes on amendments"
"Every day he stalls, we are less safe and less secure," said Frist, who is on a congressional trip in Eastern Europe.
Before leaving last week, both party leaders had embraced a compromise that would let the majority of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants remain in the U.S. and get on a path to citizenship but require those in the country less than two years to leave.
Frist and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., issued a statement Tuesday saying they will seek legislation that would subject illegal immigrants only to misdemeanor prosecution or fines as an alternative to the sterner measure passed by the House last year.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., talks about Nevada's security issues during a news conference at a fire station in Henderson, Nev., Wednesday, April 12, 2006. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
The word just to the right and above Harry's hand, Grant minus the G, says it all as far as Harry's intent, just one more 'rant' from the obstructionist slimeball.
He deserves a cell next to Abramoff.
Why don't Reid just re-introduce his excellent 1993 bill?
Gee, Harry, then why did you block it last week?
Polls come in and the Dems reconsider their position. Big surprise.
I'd tell Reid to go suck a cactus after he shoves it through his butt.
Every time the libs throw something big, it turns out to be a boomerang and comes back in their faces. This one has done a 180 on them.
"Why don't Reid just re-introduce his excellent 1993 bill?"
Why doesn't a Republican? Wimps. Should have hammered Reid on this. Did they think his apology was effective? Make him apologize over and over. Make it so the MSM has to take notice.
He might be wanting to hurry this through 1. to have it far away from the election as possible or 2. as a campaign to assure the cheaper labor industries to keep contributing money to the democrats.
Yeah, Harry, let's just roll over and play dead for the protesters in the streets...
Harry looks like a man ripe for a heart attack.
Yeah, it looks like he has hypertension.
The following is a song from the Marx brother's movie Horsefeathers. It applies to Reid. Someone should just overlay Groucho on top of Harry's speech.
What does that have to do with the "Guest Worker" bill the President asked for?
LOL
This has something to do with a law regarding visa/passport holders that has existed for many years. It has nothing to do with illegal alien scumbags.
I have a nice barrel cactus I would gladly offer for just that purpose. ;-)
It's a biggy but being as he's one of the biggest a-holes to ever serve in the Senate , it should still be able do the job just fine.
The blowback comes later against these people like it always has with Bush. Just kick back and watch for a few weeks or months. Karl Rove is a genius at this stuff.
How To Turn The Illegal Immigration Issue Into A Huge Winner For The GOP In 2006 Just imagine if the Republicans in the Senate took the same line as the Republicans in the House and pushed a bill that does nothing but secure the border and strengthen our immigration laws. Not only would it be wildly popular, but think of what a fantastic issue it would be for the elections in 2006. It would literally put the Democrats in a position where they would feel compelled to vote against securing the border.
Plus, think about the other issues that this would put in play:
-- The GOP would be the party that believes in respecting the law and the Democrats would be the party that believes in rewarding people for breaking the law.
-- The GOP would be the party sticking up for the jobs of poor Americans while the Democrats would be the party that wants to bring in foreigners to take jobs from Americans.
-- The GOP would be the party looking out for the American taxpayers, while the Democrats would be the party that wants to make illegals citizens so they can give them welfare and food stamps.
-- The GOP would be the party that puts Americans first, while Democrats would be the party for people who believe that foreigners should be given a leg up over Americans in America.
All it would take to make this happen would be to split border security and immigration enforcement, which is extremely popular with people from both parties, from a guest worker/citizenship program, which is incredibly controversial with people in both parties. If the Democrats want to argue that we should leave our borders wide-open for months or maybe even years while we debate a controversial guest worker program, let them make that argument, but that's certainly not the position that Republicans should be taking.
The GOP should unite behind a simple principle on illegal immigration: "Secure the border and enforce our laws."
http://www.rightwingnews.com/archives/week_2006_04_09.PHP#005539
The Democrats want an amnesty bill or no bill at all.
I think you are correct that, politically, the BEST place for the GOP to be would be to have a popular bill that they passed, ... OR a popular bill the Democrats loudly filibuster.
Instead, the GOP in the Senate is trying to bend over backwards to get a 'bipartisan' compromise. Big mistake. The Democrats are wnating a bad bill for all the wrong reasons.
"Some day one of you more politically wise folks will splain to me just how delaying the Immigration Bill is going to help the Rats this fall?"
The Rats have now got a vote in the house that makes illegal aliens to be felons. The Dems are demagoguing it as a 'racist' bill that just hates hispanics.
"Unemployment today is lower than the average of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. ... the reason is because we cut taxes at exactly the right time." - Karl Rove
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