Senate blocks immigration overhaul proposal

Posted 6/28/2007 10:44:00 AM

The Senate today killed a proposal to reform the nation’s immigration system, which will likely delay any chance of an overhaul until after the 2008 election.

Only 46 senators voted today to limit debate and schedule a final vote on the bill. They needed 60 votes for that to happen.

Fifty-three senators, including Pete Domenici and Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, voted against the motion to schedule a final vote. The resulting stalemate likely kills the bill. The issue is so divisive that, according to the Associated Press, a number of senators said they won’t take up the issue again until at least 2009.

Domenici was one of the original architects of the proposal, but switched sides later when he became convinced that necessary amendments had no chance of approval.

“The bill before us is neither workable nor realistic,” Domenici said today in his statement for the congressional record. “Additionally, many senators do not even know what is in the latest version of the bill.”

Domenici also said that the present version of the bill and “anything similar” to it “is dead on arrival in the House of Representatives.”

“I question the rationale of passing a bill that has so many flaws when several members of the House have said this bill will not even be considered by the House,” Domenici said. “Would it not be better for all of us to have a more open and fair debate on border security and immigration that is not subjected to unnecessary deadlines and closed-door decision making?”

Opposition was led by conservatives who said the proposal amounted to amnesty. An intentional lobbying effort organized through blogs and talk radio led to members of Congress being flooded with phone calls, faxes and e-mails. The surge was so powerful it overwhelmed the congressional phone system.

Republican senators like Domenici, who is struggling in popularity polls and faces re-election next year, were under immense pressure.

A push by a number of influential moderates from both parties and President Bush wasn’t enough to save the bill.

Bingaman’s office indicated it would release a statement shortly. I’ll have an update when that happens.

Update, 1:45 p.m.

Bingaman said he tried to improve to the bill, and was successful on two amendments, but, in the end, decided the bill was not “good policy,” according to a news release.

Bingaman said the bill, as written, “created an unnecessarily complicated guest worker program that would have depressed American wages and encouraged immigrants to overstay their visas, while making dramatic changes – but not necessarily for the better – to the process individuals would use to legally immigrate to our country.”

“Whatever legislation we pass is likely to be in place for many years to come, and I am deeply concerned that the immigration bill, as it was drafted, wasn’t going to accomplish many of its stated goals,” Bingaman said. “Replacing our broken immigration system with the dysfunctional one outlined in this bill does not make sense.”

Update, 4:15 p.m.

Gov. Bill Richardson issued the following statement:

“I am deeply disappointed. You can’t solve a problem by ignoring it. We have got to find a way to bridge the divide and bring people together to address the critical problems facing our nation – immigration, energy, healthcare, education,” he said. “This is the price America pays for divisive leadership. Congress should continue to work on passing immigration reform.”

A prior version of this posting incorrectly stated that Domenici’s statement was made on the Senate floor.