Immigration Bill Still Alive...Barely

I'm not sure if the Senate is part of a representative republic or a banana republic. Some of the stuff that went on their yesterday was simply amazing.

Drudge seems to think the bill is now nearly dead (as evidenced by his R.I.P. headline), but I have my doubts. The latest "killer" amendment sunsets the guest worker program in five years, and that won't be popular with some of the bill's previous supporters:

WASHINGTON (AP) - A fragile compromise that would legalize millions of unlawful immigrants risks coming unraveled after the Senate voted early Thursday to place a five-year limit on a program meant to provide U.S. employers with 200,000 temporary foreign workers annually.

The 49-48 vote came two weeks after the Senate, also by a one-vote margin, rejected the same amendment by Sen. Byron Dorgan. The North Dakota Democrat says immigrants take many jobs Americans could fill.

The reversal dismayed backers of the immigration bill, which is supported by President Bush but loathed by many conservatives. Business interests and their congressional allies were already angry that the temporary worker program had been cut in half from its original 400,000-person-a-year target.

A five-year sunset, they said, could knock the legs from the precarious bipartisan coalition aligned with the White House. The Dorgan amendment "is a tremendous problem, but it's correctable," said Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa. The coalition will try as early as Thursday to persuade at least one senator to help reverse the outcome yet again, he said.

One of the most amazing moments of the day was the defeat of the Cornyn amendment:

The Senate voted 51-46 to reject a proposal by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, to bar criminals - including those ordered by judges to be deported - from gaining legal status. Democrats siphoned support from Cornyn's proposal by winning adoption, 66-32, of a rival version that would bar a more limited set of criminals, including certain gang members and sex offenders, from gaining legalization.

In other words, there are certain classes of felons that Democrats want to be part of our country. Is there any sanity left on the Hill?

Still to come is the Thune amendment which would prevent the instant probationary status that will be granted to every illegal immigrant in the country the moment the bill is signed. That provision, known as 601h, has received very little media attention. If the bill is signed into law with 601h still intact, the moment the bill is signed every illegal alien will enjoy probationary status and cannot be deported, even if they fail to apply for the infamous "Z" visa. All of the vaunted "triggers" that are supposedly in the bill would be worthless. It's a disaster waiting to happen.

Debate continues today on numerous amendments. Harry Reid is desperate to cut off debate and vote on the bill (which could actually kill it given the wavering support), but Mitch McConnell is holding out for every amendment that the GOP wishes to submit. He seems to think he can hold the GOP together enough to get the 41 votes needed to prevent cloture.

Mickey Kaus has been furiously blogging about the falling support for the bill among voters from both parties. The more informed people are about this bill the more they dislike it, and the longer the debate goes on the more people will become informed. The Senate cabal that put this together with the help of racist special interest groups like La Raza are finding out that they've overstepped their authority and cannot demand the blanket approval of their efforts or bar amendments that would fix the bill's problems - or kill it altogether.

All the antics on the Senate floor are straining efforts at their precious "bipartisanship". Look at this dust-up between presidential candidate Barack Obama and McCain Vice President wannabe Lindsay Graham:

The amendment infuriated Graham, a South Carolina Republican with close ties to another presidential hopeful, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Pacing the Senate floor and waving Obama's amendment, Graham loudly accused Obama of undermining a delicate agreement whose advocates have shown political courage.

Issues that require bipartisanship often fail, Graham said, "because some people, when it comes to the tough decisions, back away." Obama's amendment, he said, would destroy the bill's prospects and bring special woe to Republicans—such as himself—who have endured conservatives' searing criticism for backing it.

It would undercut "everybody over here who's walked the plank and told our base, 'You're wrong,'" Graham said. "So when you're out on the campaign trail, my friend, tell them about why we can't come together. This is why."

Lindsay, the base is likewise telling you 'you're wrong'. You can't fire the voters, but the voters can fire you. You should have thought of that before you started this whole mess.