Jim Kouri
House GOP on the road to killing the Senate immigration bill
By Jim Kouri
The prayers of many Americans that the Senate Immigration Reform Bill will be killed by Republicans in House of Representatives may be answered in the next few days — perhaps hours.
Amid growing opposition to the Senate immigration plan by GOP conservatives and moderates, CNN reported Tuesday night that a move by the House of Representatives could prevent immigration legislation from passing Congress this year. The House Republican leadership says they will begin a fresh series of hearings on immigration next month.
The hearings will be held in Washington and across the country "so we understand what the American people are saying," said House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois.
The push for the hearings is led by Hastert, an aide to the GOP leadership told CNN. The hearings on Capitol Hill will occur in July, the aide said, but most of those outside of Washington will be held in August.
Another House Republican aide told CNN that the hearings were meant to "increase the negatives [of the Senate bill] while accentuating the positives of the House bill."
In May the Senate passed immigration legislation that appeared weak on border security, but would create a program permitting illegal immigrants who had resided in the United States for five years or more to "earn" their citizenship after paying a fine and back taxes, learning English and holding a job for six years.
But conservatives began digging deeper into the bill and discovered a grab-bag full of goodies for people viewed by many as lawbreakers. The Senate bill also would allow illegal immigrants who have resided in the United States from two to five years to apply for a guest worker program.
A House Republican staffer, however, told CNN that said the hearings would effectively be "a final nail in the coffin" of the Senate's legalization program.
"If it weren't already in the the ground, it's going there," the House aide said.
President Bush supports the Senate's "comprehensive" approach to immigration reform. Many conservative Republicans, especially those in the House, said the Senate's approach amounted to "amnesty" and vociferously oppose any legalization program before border security has been strengthened.
Democrats are attempting to make this a Bush defeat, but most Americans understand that the Democrat Party by and large favors amnesty and, as one GOP staffer said, "pays lip service to those wishing tough border security."
Speaker of the House, Denny Hastert says that the "top thing needed is to secure the borders and we need to have the law enforcement to go along with that.
Immigration is the most important issue for the Republicans and conservatives, a House Republican aide said, and will drive conservatives to the polls — unlike the recent Senate debate on gay marriage or the upcoming vote on an amendment to ban flag burning.
As evidence, House Republicans point to the victory by Rep. Brian Bilbray in a special election in California earlier this month. Bilbray ran against the approach favored by President Bush and the Senate and argued that the borders must be secured first. His opponent lost the election partly because she was recorded telling illegal aliens they didn't need "papers" to vote.
© Jim Kouri
The prayers of many Americans that the Senate Immigration Reform Bill will be killed by Republicans in House of Representatives may be answered in the next few days — perhaps hours.
Amid growing opposition to the Senate immigration plan by GOP conservatives and moderates, CNN reported Tuesday night that a move by the House of Representatives could prevent immigration legislation from passing Congress this year. The House Republican leadership says they will begin a fresh series of hearings on immigration next month.
The hearings will be held in Washington and across the country "so we understand what the American people are saying," said House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois.
The push for the hearings is led by Hastert, an aide to the GOP leadership told CNN. The hearings on Capitol Hill will occur in July, the aide said, but most of those outside of Washington will be held in August.
Another House Republican aide told CNN that the hearings were meant to "increase the negatives [of the Senate bill] while accentuating the positives of the House bill."
In May the Senate passed immigration legislation that appeared weak on border security, but would create a program permitting illegal immigrants who had resided in the United States for five years or more to "earn" their citizenship after paying a fine and back taxes, learning English and holding a job for six years.
But conservatives began digging deeper into the bill and discovered a grab-bag full of goodies for people viewed by many as lawbreakers. The Senate bill also would allow illegal immigrants who have resided in the United States from two to five years to apply for a guest worker program.
A House Republican staffer, however, told CNN that said the hearings would effectively be "a final nail in the coffin" of the Senate's legalization program.
"If it weren't already in the the ground, it's going there," the House aide said.
President Bush supports the Senate's "comprehensive" approach to immigration reform. Many conservative Republicans, especially those in the House, said the Senate's approach amounted to "amnesty" and vociferously oppose any legalization program before border security has been strengthened.
Democrats are attempting to make this a Bush defeat, but most Americans understand that the Democrat Party by and large favors amnesty and, as one GOP staffer said, "pays lip service to those wishing tough border security."
Speaker of the House, Denny Hastert says that the "top thing needed is to secure the borders and we need to have the law enforcement to go along with that.
Immigration is the most important issue for the Republicans and conservatives, a House Republican aide said, and will drive conservatives to the polls — unlike the recent Senate debate on gay marriage or the upcoming vote on an amendment to ban flag burning.
As evidence, House Republicans point to the victory by Rep. Brian Bilbray in a special election in California earlier this month. Bilbray ran against the approach favored by President Bush and the Senate and argued that the borders must be secured first. His opponent lost the election partly because she was recorded telling illegal aliens they didn't need "papers" to vote.
© Jim Kouri
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
