Immigration coalition unraveling
By Stephen Dinan
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Online Exclusive | 1:18 p.m. 6-7-07
The fragile coalition holding together the immigration bill collapsed spectacularly this morning when the Senate adopted an amendment that punches a hole in the middle of the guest-worker program essential to Bush administration and Republican support. In a vote that ended after midnight, senators voted 49-48 to end after five years the temporary worker program, which would have allowed 200,000 new workers per year to come to the country. Then at noon Republicans, joined by nearly a third of the chamber’s Democrats, began a filibuster of the bill, blocked Democratic leaders’ efforts to close debate and set a time for a final vote. Only 33 senators—all Democrats save for one independent—voted to end the debate, falling 27 votes shy of the 60 needed. “The headline is going to be Democrats vote for the bill, Republicans vote against it, the president fails again,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Moments before that failed vote, the Senate also defeated an amendment by Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican, to make the administration enforce existing immigration laws before the guest-worker program could take effect. The Senate continued working on the bill this afternoon, with Republicans saying they would allow a final vote once Democrats agree to allow a set number of amendments. The wheels fell off the cart earlier with the passage of the amendment by Sen. Byron L. Dorgan, North Dakota Democrat, to “sunset” the guest-worker program. A similar proposal failed two weeks ago by just one vote. Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, who was part of the “grand bargain” coalition and has staked part of his presidential campaign on getting a bill passed, was furious that Democrats who control the chamber had allowed a second chance on the amendment. He implored senators before the vote to reject it. “If we pass this, it kills the bill,” he said. Several senators switched their votes between last time and this time, but it still was a nail-biter for both sides, and the amendment’s supporters feared they were being outmaneuvered on the floor. When the vote ran past 15 minutes, five minutes more than the officially allotted time, Sen. Barbara Boxer, California Democrat and one of those pressing for the amendment, began demanding to know how much time had elapsed. The night was heated on several fronts. At one point, Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, who is an ally of Mr. McCain’s, accused Sen. Barack Obama, Illinois Democrat and a presidential candidate himself, of trying to scuttle the deal reached by a small bipartisan group of senators. Mr. Obama’s amendment would have ended after five years the new point system for selecting future immigrants, which the senator said would give Congress the chance to review the way it had worked so far. But Mr. Graham said that was another sign of people pecking away at the deal. “Some people, when it comes to tough decisions, back away,” he said, charging that Mr. Obama’s proposal was aimed at dividing the two parties and “means bipartisanship doesn’t have the ‘bi’ in it.”
