WP: Immigration Deal at Risk as House GOP Looks to Voters

By Jim VandeHei and Zachary A. Goldfarb
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, May 28, 2006; Page A01

Republican House members facing the toughest races this fall are overwhelmingly opposed to any deal that provides illegal immigrants a path to citizenship -- an election-year dynamic that significantly dims the prospects that President Bush will win the immigration compromise he is seeking, according to Republican lawmakers and leadership aides.

The opposition spreads across the geographical and ideological boundaries that often divide House Republicans, according to interviews with about half of the 40 or so lawmakers whom political handicappers consider most vulnerable to defeat this November. At-risk Republicans -- from moderates such as Christopher Shays in suburban Connecticut and Steve Chabot in Cincinnati to conservative J.D. Hayworth in Arizona -- said they are adamant that Congress not take any action that might be perceived as rewarding illegal behavior.

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Several Republicans said they are getting more bricks in the mail -- as part of a new grass-roots campaign promoting a fence between the United States and Mexico -- than letters or calls supporting Bush and the Senate bill. Most said 80 to 90 percent of feedback coming from constituents last week was in opposition to Bush and the Senate on the citizenship question.

Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) will not allow a vote on a House-Senate compromise that does not have the support of most GOP lawmakers or one that would undermine the reelection chances of his at-risk members, aides said. According to GOP lawmakers and strategists, about 75 percent of the 231 House Republicans are steadfastly opposed to the Senate bill or even a watered-down version of it.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/27/AR2006052700802.html

Democrats, as a whole, are not in favor of the immigration bill that passed the Senate. Many side - in part - with the pissed off Republicans. Rightly or wrongly, how will that shake out for the Democrats? I'm concerned. I've heard lots of people - Republicans and Democrats - say they won't vote for anyone who supports amnesty. The media is overlooking the pissed off Democrats.

The Corporatist Media doesn't think that Democrats count for anything, especially since we don't vote for the 'right' (pun intended) party.

News clips of Kennedy discussing his proposal frequented the news media for while and he came off very even handed and sane compared to the Repukes.

paying set fees out of wages that would pay for all costs for emergency and welfare care received by illegals in mass. These fees should be collected by their employers with big time fines for non compliance. This coupled with higher enforced minimum wages IMO would go a long way in causing an exodus of illegals back to where they came from. The need for a higher stronger fence and more border guards is all due to letting employers milk the system.

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Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5851276,00.html

I guess Bush'll just have to declare War On Mexico.

Didn't KKKarl RRRove tell the repugs that this would be a campaign strategy that they would use to beat the Dems over the head with.

Sure doesn't seem to be working out that way, huh?

Good old infallible KKKarl strikes again.

Do it again Rove.

into the same ignorant argument that marked the various anti immigrant arguments of the mid 19th and early 29th century xenophobes. I find it disturbing to see so many on this supposedly progressive forum parrot those very same positions. One poster seems to think that it is only the undocumented workers who over burden our so-called social services networks. I would argue that it is the lack of basic universal health care for all that is creating this so-called crunch. I suspect the the great majority of those who are here without the proper documents are otherwise a very law abiding community. I don't believe that the undocumented community is any less concerned about providing for their families any less than the "native-born". There must be a solution that falls short of the draconian measures proposed by the House of Representatives. I am reminded of some of the comments made in the film "Gangs of New York" that sound like very much like what some of our politicians and some of our so-called "progressive" friends...sheesh!!

The root of a lot of evil and stupidity is people believing they possess something when it is not, actually, theirs.

I didn't hear all this whining and penny wise/pound foolish righteousness in 1998 and 1999 and 2000, when there were plenty of jobs. Sometimes- in fact, usually- the true problem lies in ourselves.

I'm not worried about it. I don't believe there will be a compromise bill that gets through...and if something does, it'll get changed within the year.

half as much damage, or pissing away 10% as much money as the debacle in Iraq, which all of these weasels think needs our unconditional support.

Ronald Regan's "amnesty" program in 1986 fell just a bit shy of his endearing minions. I'm still waiting to hear the spin on that little tidbit.