Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., pauses as he delivers the response to President Bush's immigration address Monday, May 15, 2006 in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Posted on 05/16/2006 9:25:01 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - President Bush drew fresh criticism from House Republicans Tuesday for endorsing eventual citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.
Republicans expressed support for new attempts to secure America's porous borders, but they rebelled against another element of what Bush calls a comprehensive plan to alter immigration laws.
"Thinly veiled attempts to promote amnesty cannot be tolerated,' said Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga. "While America is a nation of immigrants, we are also a nation of laws, and rewarding those who break our laws not only dishonors the hard work of those who came here legally but does nothing to fix our current situation."
On the morning after Bush's prime time speech, the White House sought to emphasize efforts to strengthen border security.
"This is going to be a tremendous enforcement support partnership," U.S. Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar told reporters at the White House, anticipating the deployment of up to 6,000 National Guard troops to states along the Mexican border.
"We can certainly do what is asked by our commander in chief," added Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, National Guard Army Bureau Chief.
Blum, Aguilar and others stressed that National Guard forces would function in support roles, leaving front-line law enforcement against illegal immigrants in the hands of federal Border Patrol agents.
As Bush's Monday night speech drew reaction from Republicans and Democrats, the Senate moved toward the first of several showdown votes over the next week or so on immigration legislation that followed the president's general recommendations. The measure provides greater border security, establishes a new guest worker program and offers an eventual chance at citizenship for most of the estimated 11 million to 12 million immigrants in the country illegally.
Democrats responded with a pledge of cooperation and a barbed question for the commander in chief. Bush "has the power to call up the National Guard to patrol the border," said Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat. "But does he have the power to lead his own Republican forces in Congress in support of real immigration reform?"
Durbin's jab was aimed at anticipated year-end compromise negotiations with House Republicans. But the next move in an election-year struggle belonged to the Senate, where, hours before Bush spoke, debate opened on a bipartisan bill that generally met his specifications.
After months of political bickering, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and his Democratic counterpart, Sen. Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record) of Nevada, agreed the Senate was on track for passage of the bill by Memorial Day.
Supporters of the measure said they had the votes to block the first of several expected attempts by critics to rewrite the measure. Advanced by Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., the proposal would require the government to certify that border security provisions were fully operational before any illegal immigrant could receive a change in legal status.
"We must have a more permanent solution for securing our borders," Isakson said in a statement after Bush spoke, reaffirming his intention of seeking a vote on his proposal.
That wasn't how the sponsors of the Senate bill saw it, and Bush described his own views this way: "An immigration reform bill needs to be comprehensive, because all elements of this problem must be addressed together, or none of them will be solved at all."
The centerpiece of Bush's speech Monday night from the Oval office was his announcement that as many as 6,000 National Guard troops would be dispatched to states along the Mexican border to provide intelligence and surveillance support to Border Patrol agents. The Border Patrol would remain responsible for catching and detaining illegal immigrants.
"We do not yet have full control of the border, and I am determined to change that," the president said.
Still, Bush insisted, "The United States is not going to militarize the southern border."
Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., pauses as he delivers the response to President Bush's immigration address Monday, May 15, 2006 in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Durbin's lookin old.
The rancid odor of Chicago politics emenates from this poor excuse for a public servant.
nation of immigrants, we hear that a lot but it was also a nation of immigrants established before the current welfare nanny state that we currently have.
used to be if you couldnt make it, you'd die. maybe someone would take pity on you and bury you. now the taxpayers have to support, feed, house, educate, and medicate anyone who crawls across the border,
If we can't get a good bill to close the borders (and we probably can't), we need to torpedo whatever slimey legislation the Senate coughs up. Their bill will let the invaders from Mexico to take over the country, outnumber our voing citizens, force their socialist ideology down our throats, and keep the Dems in power for generations. We need to deep-six their moronic garbage and keep it from becoming law.
voing=voting
This guy must be very, very unhappy.
He never says anything good about anybody or anything...ever.
If he is married, his wife must be a saint.
It was the House Republicans yelling send the guard before they debate anything else so before anything else is really debated he sends the guard so now it's in their court.
It's almost like an admission to an impeachable offense.
I guess his only defense would be that Congress and the Courts would be as guilty, eh?
The whole damn this is disgraceful.
That is a lie.
It was the House Republicans stating enforce the border and enforce internal penalities first. THEN they'd discuss his proposals.
The Border isn't sealed and penalties are not being enforced at home. They have no obligation to respond to feints by this administration that will leave an open border and legalize millions upon millions of people that have no intent to assilimilate.
They get jobs, most pay taxes and support their families. What are you really mad about?
LOL!!!! Good one, DamonSt!
the guard thing is a token gesture. NYC has 35,000 police. how can 6000 guard secure the border?
No, you lie! Their whole slogan was,"enforce the border first".
Capitulation
"first" - means you do ONLY that, and don't pass any new "goodies" until you get an working plan in place, up and running. that will take 2-3 years. the administration wants the entire bill passed at once - all the "goodies" will be put into effect immediately. and the border security? that will be a token gesture at best, and years from now, will fade away.
"They get jobs, most pay taxes and support their families."
Well, if they can support families on minimum wage or less in California without being on the dole, not only should we take them in, we should take lessons from them in money management.
You should know as well as the rest of us that the bottom 40-50% of wage earners in this country have NO tax liability. "They are hard-working, tax-paying family people" may apply to immigrants in general but you are being a bit disingenuous applying that to illegal, border-jumpers. The Mexican restaurant/Western Union office by my house isn't full of Mexicans every Friday who are sending taxes to the IRS, but it is full of Mexicans sending money somewhere. Path to citizenship? Like they care.
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