• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Bush Urges a Divided Congress to Pass Compromise Immigration Bill

Posted on: Thursday, 1 June 2006, 21:00 CDT

WASHINGTON _ President Bush, prodding a bitterly divided Congress, urged the House and Senate on Thursday to give ground as they seek to reconcile their daunting differences on immigration.

Bush set no deadline for action. But he made it clear that there was "no excuse" for failing to move on a compromise immigration bill. He also said that he would continue campaigning for a comprehensive package that includes a temporary worker program and eventual path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.

"The American people expect us to meet our responsibility and deliver immigration reform that fixes the problems of the current system, that upholds our ideals and provides a fair and practical way forward," he said.

Bush, who addressed the nation on immigration in a rare primetime Oval Office address May 15, will continue follow-up appearances next week with stops Tuesday in New Mexico and Texas.

He went to Arizona last month after calling for up to 6,000 National Guardsmen over the next two years to help seal the U.S. border with Mexico. And he acknowledged again on Thursday, in another nod to conservatives in his own Republican Party: "We don't have full control of this border. And I'm determined to change that."

On Wednesday, Bush will again speak on immigration in Nebraska, the home state of Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, one of the principal sponsors of the comprehensive Senate measure.

"One of the best ways to get his message out and also hear from the American people is to get outside the Beltway," deputy White House press secretary Dana Perino said.

Back on Capitol Hill, compromise will be not be easy, Bush acknowledged, noting the wide gulf between the House bill that heavily emphasizes border security and the just-passed Senate bill that could position most of the nation's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants toward citizenship.

While a joint House-Senate conference committee has yet to be named, the White House has noted some congressional leaders want to send a bill to the president before this November's mid-term elections.

But deep divisions _ not only between Republicans and Democrats, but also among Republicans _ will undoubtedly slow the process. And there is a sense in some political quarters that any reconciliation of the issue will be pushed after the elections to a lame-duck congressional session at the end of the year, if at all.

In the meantime, Democrats are particularly eager to exploit Republican divisions.

"The president needs to stand up to the right wing of his party and insist that the anti-immigrant and un-American elements included in the House bill are rejected from any final legislation voted on by Congress," said Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean.

"If the president fails to do so," Dean warned, "he only has himself, his administration and the Republican-led Congress to blame for failing to enact tough and smart immigration reform, which is what the American people expect."

Some congressional conservatives, including Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., and Rep. Tom Delay, R-Texas, have suggested the bare essentials of a compromise: Tougher border security and other enforcement measures paired with a temporary worker program that would stop short of citizenship.

In the House, Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., the Judiciary Committee chairman who is expected to be the House's lead immigration negotiator, has flatly dismissed any notion of legalizing illegal immigrants. The Senate plan is "amnesty," he said. "Amnesty is wrong because amnesty rewards someone for illegal behavior."

Any deal that seeks to bring House Republicans aboard risks failure in the Senate, where Democrats intent on a legalization plan could stall any compromise with parliamentary maneuvers. Bush's ability even to draw together divergent elements of his own Republican Party is hampered by his low standing in the polls, driven down in large part by public angst over the war in Iraq.

The president addressed immigration Thursday in a speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which he praised for its support of the sort of comprehensive immigration overhaul that he favors.

An earned route to citizenship _ where illegal immigrants would pay a fine and any back taxes, learn English, then still go to the back of the naturalization line _ is not amnesty, Bush said, but rather a "rational middle ground" approach to a persistent and complicated problem.

Nonetheless, he had some tough words for business, large and small.

"Businesses that knowingly employ illegal workers undermine this law and undermine the spirit of America," Bush said. "And we're not going to tolerate it in this country."

___

(Dallas Morning News staff writer Michelle Mittelstadt contributed to this report.)

___

(c) 2006, The Dallas Morning News.

Visit The Dallas Morning News on the World Wide Web at http://www.dallasnews.com/

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

_____

NEWSCOM PHOTOS can be viewed at http://www.newscom.com/nc/visuals.html (Username: fpnews and Password: viewnc05 allow editors to view photos.) To purchase photos or to get your own NewsCom username and password, U.S. and Canadian newspapers, please call Tribune Media (800) 637-4082 or (312) 222-2448 or email to tmssales@tribune.com. Others contact NewsCom at (202) 383-6070 or email support@newscom.com. Use search terms: "BUSH IMMIGRATION"

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

Source: The Dallas Morning News

More News in this Category