Reid threatens filibuster on immigration

As the Senate prepares to tackle the most sweeping immigration reforms in years, a top Democrat vowed Wednesday to do everything in his power, including filibuster, to thwart Majority Leader Bill Frist's proposed overhaul.

Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he would "use every procedural means at my disposal" to prevent Frist from bypassing the Judiciary Committee. Frist, R-Tenn., has made clear the Senate will take up his proposal next week if the 18-member committee fails to complete a broader bill.

"If Leader Frist brings a bill to the floor that does not have the approval of the Judiciary Committee, it will not get out of the Senate," Reid told reporters at the San Ysidro border crossing, a few steps from Tijuana, Mexico.

Bob Stevenson, a spokesman for Frist, did not immediately respond to a call Wednesday evening.
Reid said the overhaul must include heightened border enforcement, a "guest worker" program and a "path to citizenship" for the estimated 11 million people in the United States illegally. He called legislation by Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and John McCain, R-Ariz., a "good place to start."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1757652&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

Reid is a show boating phony.

And politically, there isn't much at stake here.

1. 11-20 million "illegal" immigrants given the fast track to citizenship vs. the tortuously long process of even getting a Green Card that doesn't even offer citzenship as a pay-off.

2. No stringent screening of said applicants as a prerequisite of citzenship.

3. Signal to prospective "illegal" immigrants to come on over. Result would be 11-20 new "citzens" and 11-20 million new "illegal" immigrants willing to wait for an inevitable grant of citzenship in the future. Total 22-40 million workers when businesses are either exporting jobs, hiring foreign workers, or just doing wholesale layoffs. Unemployment is between 4+ and 10%, depending who controls the numbners.

4. 11-20 million "illegal" immigrants given citzenship with the right to vote. Which party do you suppose they will give their support: * and the republicans who gave them the gift of American citzenship and all the rights & privileges that go with it, or the democrats who did everything to frustrate their "right" to stay in this country as citizens and earn a living?

Too bad they didn't use this when the war criminal was setting up his cronies to sit on the SCOTUS.

It seems there are only a handful of Dems that have the courage to do the right thing, and the rest are just as bad as the GOP.