Immigration Bill goes Down In Flames

This was a nail biter but in the end saneness and sensibility prevailed, and this bill is now officially deader than a doornail:

The Senate drove a stake Thursday through President Bush's plan to legalize millions of unlawful immigrants, likely postponing major action on immigration until after the 2008 elections.

The bill's supporters fell 14 votes short of the 60 needed to limit debate and clear the way for final passage of the legislation, which critics assailed as offering amnesty to illegal immigrants. The vote was 46 to 53 in favor of limiting the debate.

Senators in both parties said the issue is so volatile that Congress is highly unlikely to revisit it this fall or next year, when the presidential election will increasingly dominate American politics.

A similar effort collapsed in the Congress last year, and the House has not bothered with an immigration bill this year, awaiting Senate action.
The vote was a stinging setback for Bush, who advocated the bill as an imperfect but necessary fix of current immigration practices in which many illegal immigrants use forged documents or lapsed visas to live and work in the United States.

It was a victory for Republican conservatives who strongly criticized the bill's provisions that would have established pathways to lawful status for many of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants. They were aided by talk radio and TV hosts who repeatedly attacked the bill and urged listeners to flood Congress with calls, faxes and e-mails.

So there is the news, and I am frankly surprised that it does not mention some of the highlights from this morning's debate. Most of the senators this morning we veritable geniuses. They continued to repeat that the system is broken, the status quo is no longer acceptable, and that we are a nation of immigrants. All true, but this bill would not fix the system and we knew it.

I would say the most galling thing to have heard this morning was when Arlen Specter stated that those who call and e-mail senators do not represent America. Talk about out of touch. We more than represent America. America spoke up, loud and proud, and we refused to be backed down by a bunch of pro-shamnesty bullies. That is what the bill's supporters did to the public, and we responded by increasing the scope and volume of or assault on the Senate. If this is a problem for Mr. Specter, I would suggest retirement. We play the game to win.

Harry Reid was having a field day with regard to demanding they be allowed an open and fair debate. This coming from a man who helped concoct this bill in secret, has rushed proceedings to push this through his body, and today limited debate to just ten minutes per person. So much for being fair. Of course there was the moment where he announced he received "hate mail" from his hometown, and he was upset about it. Excuse me but as an elected representative that is part of the job. People are not always going to agree with you. On this issue well over 80% of the country did not agree with him, or Kennedy, or McCain, or Graham. (Speaking of Kennedy Allah @ Hot Air,/li> has a smoking good video of Ted Kennedy making an @$$ of himself with the Gestapo comments fromt his morning.)

Here is the roll call: (Take special note of the GOP in the "yeas" column. These are the usual suspects -- minus John Kyl -- that keep mucking it up for the rest of us, and these people need to be handed their walking papers over the course of the next three elections. As for the "nays" you might want to give those Democrats a call tomorrow and thank them for being the sensible adults in their party.)

YEAS:

Akaka (D-HI)
Bennett (R-UT)
Biden (D-DE)
Boxer (D-CA)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Clinton (D-NY)
Conrad (D-ND)
Craig (R-ID)
Dodd (D-CT)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Graham (R-SC)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hagel (R-NE)
Inouye (D-HI)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Kohl (D-WI)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Lott (R-MS)
Lugar (R-IN)
Martinez (R-FL)
McCain (R-AZ)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Obama (D-IL)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Schumer (D-NY)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wyden (D-OR)

NAYS:

Alexander (R-TN)
Allard (R-CO)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Bond (R-MO)
Brown (D-OH)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Byrd (D-WV)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Dole (R-NC)
Domenici (R-NM)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Grassley (R-IA)
Harkin (D-IA)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Landrieu (D-LA)
McCaskill (D-MO)
McConnell (R-KY)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)
Roberts (R-KS)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sanders (I-VT)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Smith (R-OR)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Stevens (R-AK)
Sununu (R-NH)
Tester (D-MT)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (R-VA)
Webb (D-VA)

In closing, I would like to say this to President Bush: You tried to push this on the nation. You tried to undercut the normal way congress does business. When you failed the first time, you did not go back to the drawing board; you resorted to DC politics, and offered the Senate a bribe. Yesterday, the dirty little secret was exposed on that piece of the bill. Mr. President, if you thought you were a lame duck before today, after today it will become all the more apparent. This nation knows what you were willing to do to help your friends south of the border.

This nation knows who they can and cannot trust in Washington right now, and it is clearly not the executive branch, and a fair number of those in Congress. The people saw this abhorrant, disgusting display, and they will not forget this. In the next few years, hopefully those involved in this deal will be out of a job.

Marcie