Posted on 06/14/2007 6:16:04 AM PDT by radar101
Yesterday, a GOP aide, who is one of my sources in the Senate, gave me the rundown on what's happening with the Senate immigration bill (this is the same person who I talked to last week about the bill).
First off, it does look like the Senate immigration bill is coming back. The conventional wisdom seems to be that it's going to be brought up right before the July 4th break, so that the Senate Republican leadership can try to use that as leverage to get votes (in other words, "vote for the bill or we'll have to waste your vacation time until you do").
This is despite the fact that the conservative leaders of the anti-amnesty movement are refusing to cooperate, and won't give Mitch McConnell a list of amendments that they want considered. My source tells me that the reason for this is that the game has now been rigged. McConnell is essentially promising to bring the amendments up in exchange for cloture votes, but he's publicly saying that they will strip any problematic amendments out in committee.
In other words, if the bill gets through the Senate and the House, the Democrats and the open borders Republicans will work together when the bills have to be reconciled in committee to strip out any amendments that the "grand bargainers" don't like. Therefore, at this point, it doesn't matter what amendments pass, because any tough enforcement provisions that slip through will be rendered toothless when the bills are reconciled.
My source also noted that the cloture vote to end debate will be the "real" vote on the bill because if debate is closed off, the bill is sure to pass. Then, what will happen is that the votes for the bill will be counted, and a few Senators who are afraid that their election prospects will be jeopardized by a "yes" vote, will be allowed to vote against the bill. This enables those Senators to tell their constituents that they voted against the bill, but it will still allow them to collect campaign contributions from lobbyists who have a better understanding of how things work, and know that the bill couldn't have been passed without their support. Put another way, they get to reap the rewards of supporting amnesty while telling the voters in their home states that they opposed the bill.
My source also let me know that the White House and the Senate leadership, and Trent Lott in particular, are pushing very hard for this bill.
I asked my source to speculate on why Lott was pushing so hard, and he said that Lott may be naive enough to think that this bill might help John McCain's presidential campaign. He told me that despite McCain's dip in the polls since the bill hit the news, it was hard to miss the fact that the biggest supporters of this bill in the Senate, Jon Kyl, Trent Lott, and Lindsey Graham, are all solidly behind McCain in '08.
Before we finished up, I asked my source what he thought the prospects of passage were. He stated that it was a toss up, but that the pro-amnesty side had the momentum. I asked how that could possibly be given the outpouring of anger against this bill, and he told me that a lot of moderates were afraid of being called racists by people like Michael Chertoff, Luis Gutierrez, and Fred Barnes. He also noted that the Senate has a very insulated, clubhouse like atmosphere, and that a lot of these pro-amnesty Senators seem to be more worried about getting the President or Trent Lott mad at them than enraging the voters in their states. In addition, he told me that he thinks a lot of these Senators have "drunk the DC Kool-Aid", and believe that they're better off passing a bad bill, even one that won't ultimately become law if, as expected, the House kills it, so that they can at least tell the voters in 2008 that they did something about immigration.
PS #1: I asked my source what his boss thought the fallout from this bill would be. He advised me that his boss, and some of his boss's conservative colleagues in the Senate, believe that this bill could gin up so much outrage on the right that it could lead to the GOP having an even worse year in 2008 than they did in 2006. As is, conservatives are disillusioned and unmotivated, and he thinks this bill will make things much worse if it passes the Senate.
PS #2: Another question I had for my source was whether he thought Harry Reid wanted this bill to pass. He replied that he thought Rush Limbaugh was right, and that Harry Reid would prefer to see this bill go away. As evidence for that, he pointed to Reid bringing Byron Dorgan's killer Amendment back three times. He also said that if Reid had really wanted the bill to pass, he would have kept it on the floor for another 2-3 days. At this point though, he said that Reid is probably content to let it come back because after the President's high profile lobbying, he can pin the blame for the bill on Republicans.
Do you want to fax a Senator to let them know you are against the Immigration Bill? Three steps, takes less than a minute, for free and you don't even need to get up from your computer.
1. Don't know who to fax? Here is a list of GOP Senators being targeted by the pro-amnesty crowd to flip.
2. Need a fax number? Go to http://www.grassfire.org/19042/targets.htm (Ignore the prices, you are just after the fax numbers).
3. Fax for free from the Web. Put your message in the text box. Go to http://faxzero.com/
That's it. You're done.
I faxed Mitch McConnell the following:
Security first, Senator! Please do not betray your country! We do not want this bill.
You can also email them from a webform here. This site also has their office phone numbers.
They are not idiots. This IS the plan that has been bought into by all. Your current flag will be a collectors item.
BTW, This is Flag Day. What a pathetic bunch of TRAITORS!
I saw the new flag, blue background with three yellow stars in a trilateral arrangement.
Can’t remember where I saw it, though.
Richmond is in.
People get the government they deserve. If this bill manages to become law, I'm planning on being amongst those that will help speed our destruction; the legalization process will become very big business.
The game will be afoot, and it will it be everyone for themselves to try and accrue as many assets as they can before flying the coop for greener pastures.
We cannot afford to put all our hopes in this direction.
I just called my congressman's local office...and even though I know he's 100 percent against the bill....he's just one person.
I don't know if it's possible....but millions of Americans in the streets of DC sounds like a good idea to me.
...or like Roccus suggestion....tens of thousands at each state capital.
A couple weeks ago in one his many excellent floor speeches, Sessions detailed exactly how Frist handled the "comprehensive immigration reform" of 2006.
Sessions said (and I am paraphrasing and summarizing here) that Frist was basically a delivery boy for the Democrats and Teddy Kennedy, bringing bill after bill into the conference room and saying "add this one, add that one" with no real understanding of what the bills were or how they (didn't) fit together, let alone meet Republican standards.
Contrary to his normal calm and cheery demeanor even when discussing ugly truths, in this speech Sessions was visibly PO'd, which probably meant that he was still steaming mad and ready to spit bullets over last year's imbroglio. I inferred (though he never said it) that Sessions was so upset by last years Fristian ramrodding process that he vowed not to let it happen that way this year.
And he hasn't.
I hate to say that you are correct. Maybe that is why Boosh bought land in Paraguay and the Clintons bought land in the Dominican.
Vacations away from the cesspool they created and good places to hide!
..actually, you said ‘every county courthouse in the nation’...no doubt even more doable
This is about one MexAmeriCanada. Why do you think this bill has no walls? Why do you think racist is thrown around so often.
This is all about the death of a sovereign country, The United States of America.
Industry has bought the passage of this bill so they can keep their access to cheap labor. I would bet it’s a done deal.
Although that would be nice, I think this MUST start at the local level. If the American people truly are against this, it will grow all by itself. You start a bonfire with kindling.
I wonder if this will become a trigger pulling moment in US history? What happens if the citizens decide ‘no anmesty’ anyway?
I can not believe how ANGRY I am right now. I have NEVER felt such disgust at the government before in my LIFE.
I’ve called and written, and tried to stay reasonable. I just don’t know what else to do.
Also, I heard a snippet about Rohrbacher being very upset with Bush over immigration....
..it was said in passing, and referenced bad blood between them because of this...
I realize this is anecdotal, but thought it interesting.
And as the people begin to ignore any laws, the police state will be welcomed in by the lemmings.
I pray for my children.
..you said start at the local level..
...and I include Bush and his minions in that.
Gawd, I'm so disgusted with these people!
I type slow. :/
I do not know how we, as people, are to stop “them”. Pray and we will find an answer. I heard a speaker on AFR state that GOD has ignored country’s in the past due to their moral failings. The speaker stated that he believes the United States has been released from GOD’s protection.
I pray this is not the case, however, what else can you point to?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.