Archive » Amnesty

9/11 families protest the Bush-Kennedy bill. Plus: The Heritage Foundation exposes the secrets of the new proposal and spotlights its security-sabotaging implications.

***Update 9:25pm Eastern:*** The Grand Schemers have settled on amendments to the shamnesty bill in a bid to win over the wafflers:
Sixteen of the two dozen amendments the Senate will consider attaching to a revived immigration bill come from senators who helped derail the legislation earlier this month. A list of the proposed changes obtained [...]

Deadly consequences of open borders, part 998,999.

Actions have consequences. Plus: Lindsey Grah-amnesty’s latest hissy fit.

Pile-on.

There was a glimmer of hope on the shamnesty landscape today in the House. Stalwart immigration enforcement proponent Tom Tancredo won approval–by a significant margin–of his amendment banning DHS funds for renegade sanctuary cities. From Rep. Tancredo’s website:
U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo’s (R-CO) amendment to cut funding from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Bill (H.R. [...]

Time to Move On, Trent.

Teddy’s new best friends.

Photoshop: David Lunde
Military-smearing Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell released this statement about the shamnesty last night:
Thursday, June 14, 2007
WASHINGTON, D.C.–Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following statement today:
“We met this evening with several of the Senators involved in the immigration bill negotiations. Based on that discussion, [...]

Are you paying attention? (Hat tip: Allah)
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will approve a new deal on immigration on Thursday and move to bring the once-dead legislation back to the Senate floor next week, Democratic sources told FOX News.
Details of the immigration compromise remain to be finalized, but top Democratic sources say Reid has closely [...]

Yes, we still have a voice in Washington. Sen. Jim DeMint’s statement on the $4.4 billion Grand Ruse:
“I appreciate the effort to fund border security, but there’s simply no reason why we should be forced to tie amnesty to it. If the administration was serious about fulfilling the border security promises, then this funding [...]

WashTimes reports that President Bush will offer his amnesty “confidence-builder” in a speech this morning:
President Bush will state in a speech this morning that he supports an amendment to the immigration reform bill that would immediately spend $4.4 billion on border security, in the White House’s latest effort to resurrect the bill that failed last [...]

It’s what’s for breakfast this morning in Washington:

On Tuesday, I mentioned the list of 15 GOP senators that the Shamnesty Grand Schemers want to flip to their side (asterisked senators are up for re-election in 2008):
* Alexander (R-TN)
Bennett (R-UT)
* Cochran (R-MS)
* Coleman (R-MN)
* Collins (R-ME)
* Cornyn (R-TX)
* Craig (R-ID)
* Domenici (R-NM)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lott [...]

Eduardo “Piolin” Sotelo, a leader who organized the massive illegal alien marches in Los Angeles last year, is headed back to Washington to push for shamnesty. He’s due to arrive tomorrow with his open-borders caravan:
A popular Spanish-language disc jockey began a cross-country trip Sunday to encourage Congress to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws, planning to [...]

Reader T.K. e-mails:
Several months ago, when rumblings of a possible amnesty for illegal immigrants supported by President Bush and the GOP started to hit the blogosphere, I held back from sending in a check to renew my 2007 RNC membership, instead sending in a note that I would not financially support the party if it [...]

You can say that again:
“We . . . have lost credibility in Washington on the issue, and I think before the American people will really ever get behind an immigration policy, they’re going to have to feel that Washington is truly going to follow through on what it says,” said Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.).
Meanwhile, the [...]

So, Bush had his meeting with Senate Republicans. He says “the status quo is unacceptable.” Yeah, tell me about it.
So, now what? The backdoor wrangling continues. Congress Daily reports:
…Senate Republican negotiators were close to agreeing on the number of amendments they want to bring up and could present that list to Reid as early [...]

Just received from a Hill source:

***
Out-of-touch-with-reality quote of the morning:
“I think one of the things that we have to do is answer the skeptics, answer the doubters,” White House press secretary Tony Snow said Tuesday.
“We not only have a good sound bill, but it’s also one that a lot of conservatives, when they get a [...]

Photoshop: David Lunde
President Bush heads to Capitol Hill today to try to revive S.1348, the shamnesty bill. He’s getting cocky:
President Bush, wading deeper into an issue that bitterly divides his party, hopes a personal appeal can help persuade skeptical Republicans to resurrect and pass his immigration bill.
Over lunch Tuesday in the Capitol, Bush planned an [...]

The corpse of S. 1348 is twitching. Remember: I pronounced it “down but not quite dead” after the cloture vote last Thursday. Now, Bush-Reid-Kennedy will be working overtime the next few days to prop it back up on the Senate floor, reports the NYTimes:
Senate Democrats opened the door to reviving the stalled immigration measure on [...]

Kathryn Lopez diagnoses the disease.

Photoshop: David Lunde
***
Wire stories coming in: AP calls the cloture vote failure a “stunning setback.” Reuters: “A major legislative setback.” Bloomberg: “A big disappointment.”
A few of my quick post-debate thoughts:
As annoying as Reid’s refrain was, he is right: This was the president’s bill. This was the monstrous sham that President Bush tried to ram through [...]

6:13pm Eastern update: Scroll for latest liveblogging on Senate floor action (and inaction):
I liveblogged the vote on the Coburn amendment earlier this morning. The roll call deserves its own separate post. I’ve underlined the Republicans who voted against the Coburn amendment to fully enforce existing immigration laws. Everything you need to know about your US [...]

Just to make clear, because it was a bit confusing, the two cloture votes that went down were these:
Question: On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture on the Kennedy Amdt. No. 1150, As Amended )
Vote Number: 203
Vote Date: June 7, 2007, 11:41 AM
Required For Majority: 3/5
Vote Result: Cloture Motion Rejected
Amendment Number:
S.Amdt. 1150 to to [...]

Update: 12:40am Senate adjourned until 10am…Reid has called for a vote later today on a motion to limit debate to 30 additional hours…It’s the “moment of truth” now…Sen. Jeff Sessions, who has been an eloquent and stalwart amnesty opponent, says tonight: “I think enthusiasm is waning for the legislation…”
Chicago Tribune says Dorgan amendment “may have [...]

Knowledge is power. Here are the Senators who voted against the Cornyn amendment , which as I noted this morning, would have established a permanent bar for gang members, terrorists, and other criminals looking to snag a shamnesty visa. Republicans highlighted in red:

Update: A reader called Sen. Coburn’s office to ask about why he didn’t [...]

Debate has resumed this morning on the Senate floor over S.1348, the shamnesty bill. Numbers USA gives a preview:
[O]ne amendment that could inflict a severe blow to the already fractious coalition supporting the so-called “Grand Bargain” will be debated and probably voted upon. Although the amendment simply expands the list of crimes making illegal aliens [...]

Scroll for updates, liveblogging…
Debate on S. 1348, the shamnesty bill, has resumed on the Senate floor. Numbers USA sums up the upcoming action:
Members will consider an amendment sponsored by Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) that would ensure that green card applicants who entered the country illegally are not given preference under a merit-based processing system over [...]

Just read this. The Republican Party’s condescension and contempt for the base rots from the head down. Brilliant strategery there, GOP. Brilliant.
More: Peggy Noonan on the fatal consequences of Bush administration contempt:
Why would they speak so insultingly, with such hostility, of opponents who are concerned citizens? And often, though not exclusively, concerned conservatives? It [...]

The WSJ accepts National Review’s invitation to debate amnesty. Looks like Bill Bennett will moderate.
Yesterday: A National Review invitation to the WSJ