It's Not Dead Yet

The corpse of the immigration bill is still twitching, and if the president and the cabal of senators that created it have anything to say about it, it will be back:

Senate Democrats opened the door to reviving the stalled immigration measure on Sunday, calling on Republicans to resolve their internal divisions and produce an agreement on how to move the legislation forward.

With Bush administration officials and Republican authors of the overhaul saying they had not given up on the bill, the spokesman for Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, said Mr. Reid would be willing to try again if Republicans agreed to a defined number of amendments and a time limit on debate.

“If and when Republicans can agree on a limited number of amendments and agree on the need to get this bill passed, Senator Reid is committed to finding room on the Senate schedule as soon as possible,” said Jim Manley, the spokesman, who said President Bush needed to play a role as well. “The hope is that he can apply enough pressure to provide the votes we need to get the bill out of the Senate.”

Mr. Bush is scheduled to visit the Capitol on Tuesday for a lunch with Senate Republicans. That meeting will come just days after the immigration proposal, one of his chief domestic priorities, was derailed when an effort to bring a two-week debate to a close came up far short of the votes needed.

On Sunday, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said the administration was “more determined than ever” to push the measure, which has drawn strong opposition from conservatives.

These guys aren't listening. If you think the base was fired up about this bill the first time, wait untl they try and resurrect it.

Mickey Kaus has some better ideas on what the president should do instead of pushing for this bad bill:

1. If all these enforcement measures are so wonderful, why not enact just them and drop the questionable legalization part? Bush is holding the parts of the bill everyone says they want hostage to the parts he wants.

2. If we tried the enforcement parts first, then we wouldn't have to trust the federal government. We could make sure the measures work before we go ahead with legalization (and attract a new wave of legalization-seeking illegals).

3. The bill does require "that we meet border security objectives before certain other provisions can take effect." Unfortunately, legalization is not one of those "certain other provisions." Legalization is immediate under the bill.

4. "[I]f ... they're not obeying the law, they get sent out." Of course, most of them will be obeying the law ... because what was illegal will have been legalized! As for whether the government will actually get it together to send people home if, say, they've come illegally after the January, 2007 cutoff--well, again, let's see whether that "investment" in enforcement pays off.

The GOP could become instant heroes if they followed Kaus' idea #1 and enact a tough border control bill. It won't happen, though, because they're not that smart and the Dems would never let it pass.