Senate not ready yet for immigration debate

Feenmi · 04-26-2010, 03:41 PM

Quote:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate is still a long way from debating any immigration reform despite calls from President Barack Obama for an overhaul, a top Democratic aide said on Monday.

"We don't even have a bill yet," the aide said, adding that Democrats who control the chamber want to see such immigration legislation before deciding when to move to it, and that could take months.

Revamping immigration laws is one of Obama's top legislative priorities and the issue shot onto the agenda after Arizona passed tough legislation last week against illegal immigration.

Bipartisan talks on climate change collapsed on Saturday amid reports Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid may move to push immigration legislation ahead of a planned climate change bill.

The senior Democratic aide said it remains uncertain whether immigration legislation will be brought up in the Senate before a climate change bill, or vice versa.

"Both are neck and neck in terms of importance to Democratic leaders in the House and Senate," the aide said.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham accused Reid on Saturday of playing election-year politics with immigration and withdrew his support from an anticipated accord on a climate bill.

Reid is in a tough campaign for reelection in November in his home state of Nevada, and pushing immigration reform could help energize Hispanics, a key voting group.

While Graham has been trying to reach an agreement on climate legislation, he's also been working for months with Democratic Senator Charles Schumer on a possible bipartisan immigration bill.

They aim to bolster border security, create a new process for admitting temporary workers and implement a "tough but fair path" to U.S. citizenship for illegal immigrants in the United States. Reid could declare talks stalled and offer a bill of his own.

A top business lobbyist said Reid had created confusion with the immigration push.

"Right now," the lobbyist said, "I have no idea ... what direction Reid plans to go."

Chris Krueger of Concept Capital, a private firm that tracks Congress for institutional investors, said: "I think the chances Congress passes immigration reform (this year) are slim to none -- and slim just left the building."

"Maybe they're teeing it up for next year," Krueger said.

http://us.mobile.reuters.com/mobile/...63P58620100426

M42 · 04-26-2010, 03:51 PM

you know maybe if they had written a bill instead of kicking back and releasing 5 bullet point outlines, maybe this wouldn't be a problem... this is getting frustrating.

I wish Schumer and Graham would've at least been honest about it and said they've got nothing instead of waiting till the last moment. I don't want to talk badly about them, but hey.

With that said, they could easily come up with a bill by using all the existing stuff they have

ECL23 · 04-26-2010, 03:54 PM

When will they be ready? They had since 2008, to formulate a bill for immigration because Obama wanted to address the issue. This has been a constant battle. If they're not ready now, when the debate is hot and emotions are running high. When will they?

rock steady · 04-26-2010, 04:18 PM

NYers, Call Schumer's office and express your discontent. SCers, Call Graham's office and express your discontent.

Everyone else, start calling and faxing. You all know the drill.

kenny1314 · 04-26-2010, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ECL23

When will they be ready? They had since 2008, to formulate a bill for immigration because Obama wanted to address the issue. This has been a constant battle. If they're not ready now, when the debate is hot and emotions are running high. When will they?

when? we don't even know, political is a bullshit, and they only care about their pocket more than people. they don't even care about the illegal student like us. it is so hard to survive without any documentation. the bill is ready but i don't think republican want to take this up, because it definitely complex plus the election year. they don't want the election being mass up. even senate senator Raid is playing the political game, cause why he want to bring this up before his own election? cause he know if he is not going to bring it up , and show all the Latinos their ability, then he will lost the election.

dtrt09 · 04-26-2010, 04:24 PM

Target Chuck Schumer and Graham!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are both liars - I've been writing for months here asking anyone who saw Obama and the Dems as "can do no-wrong in our eyes" where is the bill? He needs to be called out in PUBLIC by all activists and organizations demanding to see "the bill that they've been working SO HARD to write for MONTHS"

Ha.

ECL23 · 04-26-2010, 05:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kenny1314

when? we don't even know, political is a bullshit, and they only care about their pocket more than people. they don't even care about the illegal student like us. it is so hard to survive without any documentation. the bill is ready but i don't think republican want to take this up, because it definitely complex plus the election year. they don't want the election being mass up. even senate senator Raid is playing the political game, cause why he want to bring this up before his own election? cause he know if he is not going to bring it up , and show all the Latinos their ability, then he will lost the election.

I think the problem is more about the money issue. How are we (undocumented immigrants) going to fish out money for this government? They only cater to the rich and powerful. We really don't have that kind of money. This issue is more of the long-run. When this passes (cir or dream) only a few will create profit. What about the rest. {this is only on the opinion I see congressmen viewing it as. So please no biting! lol}

lilbawler2001 · 04-26-2010, 05:14 PM

I have come to the conclusion that the mainstream media is dead set against a CIR passing. That is why the keep on printing all these negative articles about CIR being dead.

CookieEater · 04-26-2010, 06:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lilbawler2001

I have come to the conclusion that the mainstream media is dead set against a CIR passing. That is why the keep on printing all these negative articles about CIR being dead.

and surprise surprise, it was written by the Washington Post

neeeeeeext.

dtrt09 · 04-26-2010, 06:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by POP

That's what I have been thinking. I mean, the outline sounded somewhat awkward to me, especially with the ID cards being, at least from my perspective, the center of it all. I think it would be more strategic to focus on border security as a main point, as it would enforce people's trust on any pathway of legalization towards undocumented immigrants.

BTW: Have any of you guys seen the comments on yahoo news when they wrote an article about the new law in AZ? -well, last time I checked there was about 18,000+ of pages of comments. Unluckily the majority were negative, although many were really pathetic, like this comment of this guy saying that Mexican Spies would come in to steal from the US--UGhh!.

If you look up the 38,000 plus posts on Huffington Post or DailyKos regarding this and the AZ law, you will see that the majority are in support.

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30

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Senate not ready yet for immigration debate