Early last week, conservative weblog RedState.com
broke the news that key members of the Senate — from both
parties — were cloistered in a dark back room, conspiring with the
White House to draw up a hastily-agreed-to “comprehensive
immigration reform” bill which would be sprung both on the Senate
as a whole, and on the American populace, with little or no warning
or time for debate before cloture was sought early this week.
Less than 24 hours later, key provisions of the forthcoming
Senate bill
leaked to the public, including the so-called “Amnesty”
provisions, which, through the issuance of “‘Z’ visas,” would allow
“aliens, along with their dependents…to legally remain in the
United States under certain conditions for an indefinite period of
time, even if they chose not to pursue the so -called ‘pathway to
citizenship.’”
Last Thursday afternoon, the bill was reportedly released to the
Senate, and politicians, pundits, and candidates came out of the
woodwork to issue statements about its contents. President Bush
lauded the proposal, which he said “will help enforce our borders,
but equally importantly, …will treat people with respect,” and
the White House communications office sent out a fact sheet touting
this successful “bipartisan agreement on comprehensive immigration
reform.” South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint disagreed, saying “the
little we do know about the bill is troubling.”
“This rewards people who broke the law with permanent legal
status, and puts them ahead of millions of law-abiding immigrants
waiting to come to America,” DeMint continued. “I don’t care how
you try to spin it, this is amnesty.” Despite this, though, Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), appearing at a news conference
with Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and others, expressed concern over
“undue limitations on family immigration” included in the bill, as
well as other provisions.
“I strongly oppose today’s bill going through the Senate,” said
GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who called it “the wrong
approach.” Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy boasted that “the
agreement” was “the best possible chance we will have in years to
secure our borders, bring millions of people out of the shadows and
into the sunshine of America.”
Others took a more measured approach. Senate Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell (R-KY) called the agreement “far stronger than the
bill the Senate produced last year,” but stipulated that border
security and “a real security infrastructure” were “requirements
for [his] support of any legislation.” Georgia Senator Johnny
Isakson released a statement in which he said that he would
“reserve judgment on supporting the final bill until the debate is
complete,” but that “at a minimum the bill must include [a] border
security “trigger” prohibiting implementation of a temporary,
probationary work permit program until the Department of Homeland
Security certifies to the President and to the Congress that the
border security provisions in the immigration legislation are fully
funded and operational.”
Former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson, posting on RedState.com, called on Washington to
“scrap…the whole debate until we can convince the American people
that we have secured the borders or at least have made great
headway.”
The media — print, online, and television — were swarming
Thursday afternoon with this and other commentary on the sudden
immigration legislation. However, amidst the debate and the rush to
support or condemn specific provisions of the bill (or the bill as
a whole), one aspect of this issue was entirely overlooked:
At the time, there was still no actual immigration bill.
Multiple Senate sources confirmed that, despite Senator Kennedy and others’
original statements, as of 10:00 PM eastern daylight time Thursday
evening, “no bill presently [existed] and probably won’t until
tomorrow at the earliest” because “the lawyers are still behind
closed doors putting it together.” Senate sources also confirmed
that “the bill probably will not be online [and available to the
public] in its final form until after the Senate has voted
on it.” Furthermore, even Senators involved in the process itself
offered contradictory reports on its contents. For example, at the
same time that John Kyl (R-AZ) was on one news channel praising the
bill’s elimination of chain migration — a key provision he himself
had championed — Reid was telling another network that that
provision would not be in the bill’s final draft.
Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), speaking Saturday morning at his
home state’s Republican Party Convention, confirmed that as of that time he still
had not received a completed immigration bill. This fact, though,
did not keep him from praising the forthcoming legislation — an
act which attracted a chorus of boos from representatives of his own
party.
The proposed legislation was finally completed Saturday night,
giving legislators one day to read and analyze the 326-page
proposal before it comes to the floor today. Though the Senate
apparently had no plans to make the bill public before cloture was
reached, the conservative Heritage Foundation did the public a
great service by acquiring a copy of the proposed legislation and
immediately posting a draft of it online. Causing further
disquiet is the fact that the Senate Judiciary Committee has been
completely bypassed in this process, with the bill set to come to a
final vote before the end of the week without ever having gone
through the process of committee review, hearings, testimony, or
fiscal analysis.
Proceeding in such a hasty, guarded fashion reflects poorly on
the intentions of those crafting it in such secrecy at the very
least, as well as on the legislation itself, and such backroom
dealings speak volumes about the ethical nature of this Congress. Unfortunately,
prominent members of both parties have gone along with this process
willingly — as has the administration itself, which has long
sought such “comprehensive” reform, as opposed to the border
security- and- enforcement-first approach many concerned members of
Congress and of the citizenry have favored.
Beyond these parliamentary concerns, though, is one issue of
supreme importance: that of the war supplemental. Over 100 days
have now gone by with no supplemental funding for America’s troops
who are currently in harm’s way and in growing need of supplies.
Approving the funding which would provide much-needed materiel to
our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines who are putting their
lives on the line 24 hours a day, on orders from their government,
is a far more important and more immediate issue than
“comprehensive immigration reform,” and as such it should take
priority. The fact that it does not speaks volumes about how
seriously the key members of the “World’s Greatest Deliberative
Body” actually take the war in which our military is currently
engaged.
The provisions of the immigration agreement aside, the fact that
so many statements were made when such an important piece of
legislation had not even been written yet — as well as the fact
that, even when completed, the bill was poised to be rushed through
the Senate and made available to the public only after its
passage — should sound alarm bells in the head of every
citizen and lawmaker who prefers honest, open government to
backroom dealings and votes on bills that have not even been read
before they hit the floor for debate. The state of affairs it
represents is, unfortunately, becoming a hallmark of the 110th
Congress. The fact that the administration, along with a number of
Senate Republicans, is so deeply complicit in this affair paints a
very distressing picture of where some key individuals’ priorities
really lie. Apparently, these priorities do not include supplying
the young men and women who are risking their lives day in and day
out in the War on Terror. Likewise, these priorities are neither in
tune with the American populace, nor with the spirit of our
Republic, which demands open, honest, and accountable government —
regardless of the subject of the legislation in question — in
order to function as it should.
