According to National Review there is a memo circulating on Capital Hill detailing the failure of the recent immigration bill. It breaks down the three primary reasons for the bills failure as well as pointing out important amendments which were rejected, ignored or undermined.

One of the primary reasons for the bills failure was “The White House, certain Democrats and the Deal-Makers blatantly disregarded the legislative process — drafting the bill behind closed doors, skipping the committee process, jamming the bill through the system, limiting the number and type of amendments that could be offered and trying to close down debate on the bill long before appropriate concerns with the bill had been addressed fully.” (emphasis in the original)

I believe it was the amendment process which inevitably led to the bills defeat. Some of the amendments listed as rejected or ignored are:

• An amendment to require the completion of background checks before Z visas are issued.
• An amendment voted on and defeated by 4 votes, to prohibit felons from getting Z visas.
• An amendment to ensure Z applicants cannot jump in line in front of those waiting

The first 2 rejected amendments seem to coincide with each other. After all, why would it be necessary to perform a thorough background check on the 12 million people here illegally if you are going to grant Z visas to felons anyway?

President Bush now intends to meet with Senate Republicans in an effort to gain support for this disastrous bill. He labels those of us against him as “anti-immigrant” but he fails to realize his bill has loopholes which place our citizens at risk. If President Bush and Senator Kennedy wish to force Americans to accept 12 million people who came here illegally, they first need to convince the country they have America’s best interests at heart.

Read the whole memo

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Congress, Immigration