Friday, June 15, 2007

A Faint Spark for the Kennedy-Martinez-Bush Reform Bill?

Harry Reid has announced he will allow the senate immigration bill to be brought up for debate based on President Bush's assurances that he has the 15 GOP votes necessary to move it forward. Bush believes that by promising to kick some money into more border patrol agents, money that's supposed to come from fines paid by illegals (really?), anti-amnesty Republicans will be placated. But that's really hard to swallow.

Bush and his advocate, Mel Martinez (who co-authored the bill with Kennedy), don't seem to get that the issue for most is enforcement. And until the President can assure Republicans that he is serious about reducing the number of illegal aliens coming in, and enforcing existing laws regarding illegal aliens already here, Republicans just aren't interested.
CNN confirms the disconnect in this statement:
Bush also said some opponents of the bill seem to "believe that we could just kick (illegal immigrants) out of the country."
"That's just totally impractical. It won't work," Bush said.

Based on the track record of enforcement the past several years, this comment explains alot.

No, the real issues remain unaddressed...the bill will remain in cold storage.

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