Immigration Reform Deal Dies, Again

Western senators vote 10-6 to kill bill

By Nathaniel Hoffman, 6-28-07

A U.S. Senate attempt to overhaul the nation's immigration laws has failed for a second time in as many months. The lengthy compromise bill contained enough, well, compromises that foes and advocates of immigrants alike could not support it.

According to Senate vote tallies, Wyoming, Montana and New Mexico senators voted together to kill the bill. Colorado, Utah, Idaho and Nevada senators split on the bill and Arizona's senators both voted to further its progress through the legislative process. They voted for cloture, that is, if you recall your high school civics lesson.

Media reports from Washington are crediting a last minute flood of calls from opponents of the bill, mostly people who do not want to see any form of legalization or amnesty for undocumented immigrants, for its failure. But if there are any senators out there who had not made up their minds at this late date, or who were swayed by a bunch of last minute phone calls, then this bill was doomed from the start.

As we said yesterday, Idaho and the nation need some detente on immigration. The Congress, however, is not able to get it done.

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By Nathaniel Hoffman, 6-28-07 | comments (10) | email story | print story

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By Craig Moore, 6-28-07

Congress' approval rating has sunk to the lowest level ever. People don't trust them to keep there word given there many hollow attempts at combing immigration reform with an enforced immigration policy. President Bush is sitting on the last authorization with only 38 miles of fence built. Neither the President nor Congress instill confidence in the governed. This result is grass roots democracy standing up to the pols and reminding that they work for us and at our pleasure. President Bush and Congress have a lot of fence mending to do with the people to regain their approval. There is no need for an 800-1000 page bill. Break apart the key pieces and approach in a priortized sequence... and keep out the pork!!!!! What I find interesting is all of the press speculation over the impact to the President and to R's in general. Not one word over the impact to the D's that voted Nay like Baucus and Tester and Yea like Clinton and Obama.

By Craig Moore, 6-28-07

correction: Getting old. The first 2 theres should be "their."

By BoiseNick, 6-28-07

whatever the merits on this issue , I'm just glad bUSH LOST ! oh,,,and that repugs are in a circular firing range. WHY in the hell would Democrats want to give the IdiotSpy-in-Chief a VICTORY? Most of the bUSH Admin. should go to JAIL! --------------------the funniest part of the above comment:

"... What I find interesting is all of the press speculation over the impact to the President and to R's in general. Not one word over the impact to the D's that voted Nay like Baucus and Tester and Yea like Clinton and Obama..."

MMMMmmmmmm, Just from my scratch pad figures; 37 of 49 repugs voted NO and 34 of 50 Democrats voted YES . Gee,,,just WHO is gonna get justifiably blamed???------------HaHaHaHAAAAAA--------bUSH & the Fetid "R"s LOSE beCause of inter-Party warfare ! Hispanics are now Firmly in the Dem camp. May I repeat a past sentiment : SHADENFRUEDE !

By Craig Moore, 6-28-07

Uh BN, do the math. Take the 12 R's who voted Yea and add that number to the 34 D's who voted Yea. That only adds up to 46. It takes 60 to reach cloture. Now take the 16 D's who voted Nay and add to 46. That is 62. Looks to me that if those D's had party discipline the D's would have taken credit for reaching cloture and paving the way for cloture. Those 12 D's who broke ranks sunk the measure. It is very clear that the D's sunk the measure and bear the responsibility for their failure. If the D's like Obama and Clinton can't generate party support from fellow D Senators such as Tester and Webb on a defining legislative measure like immigration reform, how can they possibly lead the country? In assigning the blame, just connect the dots.

By BoiseNick, 6-29-07

the ONLY problem CM ? Everything I see & read is: "...bUSH LOST..." , period, paragraph ! The term I hear since his "Signature Issue" loss isn't "Lame Duck",,, it's "Dead Duck" ,hehehehehaaa. And Once again , I ask , "WHY would we Dems wanna pass this legacy building crap for Dumbya?" Please , if you will , answer that CM . ---------so yeah man , ,, Keep kickin' that dead duck's body (Dems to blame,NOT bUSH) down the street , I'll be sittin' in the shade with a tall cool one, laughing.

By BoiseNick, 6-29-07

Oh , one more thing CM, members of the Democratic Party aren't RubberStamps like the Repugs were . So what kinda Party discipline are you talking 'bout? And as a life-long Dem , I still agree with Will Rogers; when he said, " I'm not a member of an organized political Party , I'm a Democrat." . Herding cats & all.

By Craig Moore, 6-29-07

Sounds more like you are a hurting cat and all that jazz. You dig? As to why would your fellow D's want to pass the reform measure, I would suggest you ask Kennedy, Obama, Clinton, Boxer, Feinstein, Cantwell, Murray, and Durbin for starters. Maybe they can tell you why real D's like them supported it.

By N. Mozzetti, 6-29-07, 6-29-07

Stop wasting time, and put this on the ballot so the American people can vote. This is our country, and I am tired of Senators making decisions for us...You make the decisions and we have to suffer for your mistakes... You are giving away this country, which we had to work hard for...We did not get Medical/Welfare/etc...We had to much pride..Some of us had to work two jobs, rather than take a hand from the goverment...
Stop people from coming into this country, until we can take care of our own. Take care of the people of the U.S. who have put money into the system...They should have free Medical and Dental once they have work 30 years.....The people of he U.S. are reall going to take a really hard look at the Seantors who voted for Immigration reform...This will really hurt the Democratic Party....Republicians are looking really good to me right now...Mitt for President.

By BoiseNick, 6-30-07

Sure,,, we saw how in '06 , the rabid "Keep 'Em Outers" did SO well ! Where's JD Hayworth & his ilk now? Hispanics went from 19% Repug in '05 to 11% now, 33% Dem (05) to 42% now...Howya like THEM apples? As for Mangey Mitt, how's he doing on the dog-owner/anti-cruelty vote these days? WOOF !

By mike, 7-02-07

Although I agree with the sentiment, isn't it supposed to be "mangy" without the "e" toward the end? I believe I'm correct; I believe that he would be "Mangy Mitt" although I'm not sure.

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Western senators vote 10-6 to kill bill