Reid Demands Senate Return to Immigration Issue

[Bob Geiger]

Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) has called upon Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) to resume debate on immigration reform when the Senate returns to session on April 24. In a letter sent on Wednesday, the Democratic leader urged Frist to not let opposition from the far right-wing of the Republican party derail true reform on an issue critical to the U.S. economy and homeland security efforts.

“The peaceful, dignified rallies across the country earlier this week underscore the need for Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform this year,” said Reid in his letter to Frist. “Our current immigration system is broken. We must strengthen border security, create legal mechanisms for American companies to hire essential temporary employees and allow the 11 million undocumented workers in the United States to come out of the shadows.”

Reid also took on persistent attempts by Frist and the White House to blame Senate Democrats for the failure to pass a comprehensive reform measure before the spring recess.

“Senate Democrats twice voted to move forward on such a comprehensive immigration bill, but not a single Republican backed our efforts,” said Reid. “You then said you favored comprehensive reform, but when Chairman Specter offered the bipartisan committee bill as an amendment you voted against my motion to consider that approach in a timely fashion.”

Reid also blasted George W. Bush for saying the White House supported a comprehensive immigration reform bill but then appearing “…to wilt in the face of right-wing opposition.” The Democratic leader thyen called Bush on his total lack of leadership in corralling the extreme-right faction of the Republican party.

"President Bush has as much credibility on immigration as he does on Iraq and national security,” said Reid on Thursday. “If he were actually committed to comprehensive immigration reform he would have stopped his own party from filibustering it twice last week.”

Reid’s office was also quick to point out that the Democratic side of the aisle had worked well with Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) to work out a true bipartisan immigration bill that Frist then sought to obliterate with a wide array of amendments from the Senate’s most conservative elements.

Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ), for example, sought to use an amendment to gut critical parts of the compromise bill that would have authorized temporary workers and provided a path to citizenship for an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants working in the United States.

“The Kyl-Cornyn amendment which they are seeking to bring to the floor eliminates the path to legalization for potentially millions of undocumented immigrants who have committed no crime,” said Dick Durbin (D-IL) on Kyl’s amendment. “It eliminates it from this bill. It creates a condition for qualification to be eligible for that path that would be, frankly, impossible for many to meet.”

Senators Inhofe (R-OK) and Vitter (R-LA) tried to further modify the compromise by proposing that we authorize a “Minuteman” vigilante program on the Mexican border, while Frist himself encouraged his GOP minions to vote against the same bipartisan deal he had agreed to the day before.

So while everyone from Frist to Bush to White House spokesman Scott “The Lyin’ King” McClellan has been laying the blame for the immigration-reform stall on Reid’s doorstep, the Senate Minority Leader has made remarkably clear his desire to pick up the bipartisan compromise bill, as written, as soon as the Senators return to Washington.

Let’s see how Frist responds now that Reid has firmly answered the GOP propaganda and the ball is in his court.

[rodeodance]

1. i dread to hear how Frist/bush will spin this one.

[wtmusic]

2. Even Reagan managed to corral the hard right

as could W had he an ounce of leadership. He is a tool, nothing more or less.

[blondeatlast]

3. Yes! Pressure the party in power to deal with today's problems NOW!

Not only should it be the majority party's responsibility (will they even listen to the Dems on the issue?) this is the politically expedient thing to do.