Take Heart, Immigration Foes. The Fat May Be Pulled From The Fire After All
To all those “conservatives” who proudly cast their votes for President Bush twice and are now calling him names because he supports the immigration bill (as proposed it’s a bad bill), you can take heart because it seems some of the senators you are also bashing and have declared war on are not going to support the next cloture motion.
The Senate immigration bill’s chances of passage seemed in doubt late this afternoon as several lawmakers signaled that they were undecided about supporting the legislation.
The bill is in more danger “than I thought a few hours ago,” Senator Christopher Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, told Bloomberg News. His comments came after the Senate voted down several attempts to make the immigration bill stricter, including one that would have barred illegal immigrants from a chance for eventual citizenship.
But the bill’s very fate was in doubt as senators who voted Tuesday to allow the bill to go forward said today that they were either now against allowing a vote on final passage or were inclined that way.
The wavering senators were Richard Burr of North Carolina, Christopher Bond of Missouri, John Ensign of Nevada and Pete Domenici of New Mexico, all Republicans, and Jim Webb and Ben Nelson of Nebraska, according to Bloomberg News.
The stances of those six are crucial, since all voted Tuesday to allow the debate to proceed. That cloture motion got 64 “yes” votes, or four more than necessary under Senate rules.
Another cloture motion is scheduled for Thursday, and if it does not get the required 60 votes, immigration legislation will probably be shelved for the foreseeable future.
If just five of these six senators vote against cloture the bill is dead. If all six and more vote against cloture the bill is dead.
If, by some miracle the bill passes the Senate, I have heard that Pelosi has said she won’t even bring it to the floor of the House unless she has at least 60 Republican votes and the Republicans are pretty well lined up against it in the House.
I don’t have a link to the Pelosi story as I heard it on the radio on my way home from a doctor’s appointment, but I honestly do not expect this bill to go anywhere in the Senate.
This is what happens when a bill is agreed upon by a group of Senators without the benefit of a committee hearing where nothing is done in secret. At least it’s not supposed to be done in secret.
So, for all the conservatives who think the bill is too easy on the illegals and all the liberals who think the bill is too tough on the illegals, don’t let your blood pressure rise until you see the final vote.
To see more of the sausage-making process go here and you will read basically the same thing with a bit more information.
It ain’t over till the fat lady sings and she’s not even warming up yet.
Written by ~J~
