Maybe -- if the president and the bill's supporters in the Senate have their way.

Proponents of the immigration bill that stalled in the Senate regrouped Friday, holding strategy sessions and conference calls aimed at salvaging the overhaul.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and other key negotiators said they would return soon to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) with a plan to move the bill toward passage.

The challenge is to whittle a lengthy list of amendments down to about 20, convince Republican critics that they are getting adequate opportunity to air their concerns and spend only two or three days of the Senate floor time to complete the bill, senators said.

“We are not giving up. We are not giving in,” Kennedy said. “The American people expect us to legislate. I think all of us look at the Senate the old-fashioned way: We are here to get something done.”

Kyl said they “have already begun the process of figuring how to get this back together and concluded in the next few weeks.”

And Reid signaled again Friday that he would accommodate them. “We are committed to finding room in the Senate schedule as soon as possible to get this bill passed,” said Reid’s spokesman, Jim Manley.

President Bush, who has staked his domestic agenda on immigration, will go to the Capitol Tuesday to meet with Senate Republicans during their weekly policy luncheon. And Saturday he will appeal to Congress in his weekly radio address.

“I urge senators from both parties to support it,” Bush said in an early transcript released by the White House.

The Kennedy quote indicates a fundamental flaw with the approach of the bill's supporters -- the notion that they are expected to pass some legislation is simply wrong. What is really expected of them is that they pass a good piece of legislation that actually solves the problems of border security and settles the illegal immigration problem once and for all. This piece of legislation will not do that -- and so the better course of action is to do nothing rather than allow a bad bill to become law.

Ultimately, the bill is probably doomed in the House, where teh bill faces bipartisan opposition.

Some House Democrats and Republicans declared the Bush-backed legislation dead, saying the only viable alternative would focus more heavily on tightening borders without granting lawful status to those who entered the country illegally.

"The Senate immigration bill was a deeply, deeply flawed proposal, and I'm glad it has finally landed in the political graveyard," said freshman Rep. Nancy Boyda, D-Kan. "America needs enforcement, not amnesty."

"This bill is dead," said Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Calif. He called for new legislation "that does not grant amnesty" but focuses instead on border security and workplace enforcement.

Let's have a bill come out of the House of Representatives -- the People's House -- first, and have the Senate approve that and the President sign it. The current approach has failed.

Posted by: Greg at 02:38 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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