Immigration Bill Dies A Quick Death in the Senate

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The Democratic controlled Senate lead the charge in voting down a White House backed bill on immigration that may cause this hot button issue to be tabled for the remainder of 2007.

This deep divide with the Senate mirrors the feeling of Americans nationwide when it comes to deciding the fate of over 15 million people living and working illegally in the United States.

Despite the backing of most Democrats in the Senate, some of the more liberal Democrats voted against moving this bill forward because they felt this bill did not go far enough to ensure immigrant families were kept together. These more liberal Democrats also felt this bill did not adequately protect jobs for U.S.-born workers.

The division amongst Republicans came down to social conservatives wanting to remove any type of 'amnesty' language from this bill versus Republicans backing business who rely on these undocumented workers to fill unskilled and low paying jobs. Most of these jobs are found in the hotel, farming, construction and restaurant industries.

This immigration bill fell flat despite weeks of bipartisan work in the Senate. Meanwhile, the House of Representatives said they will not take up the immigration issue until the Senate is successful in passing an immigration bill.

Wondering what happened to President Bush pushing his people into helping the Senate pass a bill he supports, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, said he hopes that someday the Senate will come together in crafting a bill that will gain Senate approval.

Senator Lindsey Graham, R-SC, defended the work of the White House by saying the White House, and particularly Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Cherto, worked liked dogs right up to Thursdays vote in the Senate.

A statement issued by the White House said this set back did not signal a death knell for one of the President's top domestic issues. The White House encouraged Sen. Reid to allow debate on the immigration issue in the hopes something can be worked out. Administration officials were closely monitoring this situation from Germany were they are attending the G-8 summit meetings, but President Bush did not call any lawmakers to discuss this hot button issue.

"He obviously is disappointed by the setback," White House counselor Dan Bartlett said of Bush. "But based on the latest information we have, there still is a good chance this bill could go forward."

Placing tighter limits on immigration is a top priority for many conservatives, and this was evident when fighting occurred earlier in the year because limits were placed on incoming temporary workers. In May, Senators reduced this temporary worker program from 400,000 to 200,000 workers. Some Senators became even more furious when the Senate voted to stop this temporary worker program all together after five years.

Top U.S. Chamber of Commerce lobbyist R. Bruce Josten told The Associated Press this week that the immigration issue is "divisive in the Republican base, it's divisive in the Democratic base, it's divisive in the business community. It splits organized labor, it splits the immigration community."

Republican Senators backing President Bush on this immigration bill came under fierce heat from people in their home state, local GOP officials, and even from conservative talk show hosts.

A recent poll conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center indicates 55 percent of respondents favor imposing a penalty on businesses that hire illegal immigrants. 25 percent of the respondents said border agents are the best way to stop the flow of illegal workers, and 7 percent said more border fences would help stem the tide of illegals entering the country.

However, when the word 'amnesty' was removed from the polling questions, 62 percent of respondents who identified themselves as Republicans said they would favor giving U.S. citizenship to illegals all ready in the country if these illegals have jobs, pass background checks and pay fines. When the word 'amnesty' was put back into these poll questions, the percent of Republican responders who backed this type of program dropped to 47.