TIME MAGAZINE

June 26, 2007

GOP Immigration Fight Heats Up

By Jay Newton-Small / Washington

If the escalating battle over Congress' controversial immigration legislation is any indication, the final 18 months of George W. Bush's presidency will be marked by pitched Republican-on-Republican smackdowns. That much was clear on Monday, a day before a key vote could determine the fate of the reform bill, as Senate Republicans and the administration traded jabs.

"The favorability ratings for the president and the Congress are at new historic lows and to take the nation's most emotionally charged issue and try to ram it down America's throat at a time when America doesn't trust what we're doing up here doesn't make a lot of sense," said Republican Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina at a hastily-arranged press conference. "So now is the time to hesitate and stop and think."

Not so, Joel Kaplan, White House deputy chief of staff for policy, told reporters on a conference call an hour later. "We're in the phase now, as they head into the final tally on the votes, of making the case and explaining why we think the status quo is unacceptable," Kaplan said. "You see signs every day that the status quo is unacceptable; you see states and localities acting on their own accord, because they don't see the federal government taking charge of this situation."

The jockeying comes as Bush, most Senate Democrats and some Senate Republicans attempt to resurrect the bill over the objections of some conservatives who are resisting a provision to put the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S. on a path to citizenship. DeMint and four other opponents of the bill Monday sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid decrying the latest maneuver to pass bipartisan legislation.

The 627-page bill was yanked off the floor by Reid on June 7 after conservatives essentially filibustered it; the measure was ten votes shy of the 60 needed on a procedural vote to cut off debate. This time around Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, are taking the unusual step of blocking off all amendments except the more than 20 already agreed to by both sides.

DeMint and Senators Jeff Sessions of Alabama, John Cornyn of Texas, North Carolina's Elizabeth Dole and David Vitter of Louisiana complained that such a tactic would "shut off the debate" and would "silence amendments instead of facilitate their debate."

The White House was quick to respond on this point as well.

"The 60 votes that weren't there before will be there tomorrow," Kaplan said repeatedly throughout the call. "That's what our intelligence tells us, and we're optimistic that that will be the case. And I think that will tell us that at least 60 members of the Senate believe that the process has been fair."

While Kaplan was careful not to outright criticize opponents of the bill, the senators had no such reservations.

"It does not have the support of Americans and I submit to you that this bill is flawed, it will not work," Senator Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican, told reporters. "My impression is that the enthusiasm for this bill, even the votes for this bill, has been eroding over the last few weeks."

Sessions pointed to fellow Republican Senators Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas and Johnny Isakson of Georgia's announcements in recent days that they, too, would not support the measure. DeMint said they have 34 committed Nay votes of the 40 they need to again shelve the bill.

Another problem opponents have with the legislation is the fact that it was negotiated over three months by 12 bipartisan senators without the input of the full Senate, as laws are usually crafted.

"At a time when the public's confidence in the Senate is at a 10 year low, it makes no sense to me to try and write what is arguably [the most] important domestic legislation that this Congress has addressed in years behind closed doors," said Cornyn. "The very process [by] which this legislation was created has not increased public confidence, it's increased skepticism." Nevermind that Cornyn was once one of the original 12 negotiators, who only left the process when his own party wouldn't accommodate amendments that would've soured the bill for the Democrats.

Noticeably silent most of the day were the Democrats, who were surely happy to stand by and let their counterparts across the aisle go at it amongst themselves. Senate Majority Leader Reid waited until the cusp of most newspaper deadlines — 6:56 p.m. Eastern — to weigh in, and even then the bulk of his response cited Republican support for the measure.

"I appreciate the concerns expressed in your letter but consider them misplaced," Reid said. "Senator McConnell and I have worked together in good faith to ensure a full, open and productive debate on a bill of overriding national importance that is supported by many Republicans and endorsed by President Bush."

A similar group of GOP senators wrote a separate letter to Reid June 12, asking him to strip out the bill's tough border security measures — which allot $4.4 billion to beef up border security, including doubling the border patrol and building hundreds of miles of fences — so they could be voted on separately. The conservatives remained bitter that they are being forced to vote against these provisions because they're tied to the overall bill.

Rejecting anything but comprehensive reform that also includes a controversial guest worker program long sought after by big business, Bush two weeks ago went to the Hill to plead his case to Senate Republicans and succeeded in getting the list of more than 20 amendments agreed to by both sides.

Since then, Bush has been on a full court press too get the last 10 to 12 undecided senators onto his side. He made personal calls last week and immigration was the subject of his weekly Saturday radio address and of a briefing at the White House planned for Tuesday.

"There are enough undecided votes at this point over this to stop the bill tomorrow, but when you're going against the president and the majority leadership and some in the minority leadership, there's a lot of arm twisting going on," DeMint said. "We do still have a shot to stop it but it's only going to be if the American people raise their voices over the next 24 hours."