Are you ready to do the victory dance??
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Senate blocks immigration bill By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writer
12 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - The Senate drove a stake Thursday through President Bush's plan to legalize millions of unlawful immigrants, likely postponing major action on immigration until after the 2008 elections.
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The bill's supporters fell 14 votes short of the 60 needed to limit debate and clear the way for final passage of the legislation, which critics assailed as offering amnesty to illegal immigrants. The vote was 46 to 53 in favor of limiting the debate.
Senators in both parties said the issue is so volatile that Congress is highly unlikely to revisit it this fall or next year, when the presidential election will increasingly dominate American politics.
A similar effort collapsed in the Congress last year, and the House has not bothered with an immigration bill this year, awaiting Senate action.
The vote was a stinging setback for Bush, who advocated the bill as an imperfect but necessary fix of current immigration practices in which many illegal immigrants use forged documents or lapsed visas to live and work in the United States.
It was a victory for Republican conservatives who strongly criticized the bill's provisions that would have established pathways to lawful status for many of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants. They were aided by talk radio and TV hosts who repeatedly attacked the bill and urged listeners to flood Congress with calls, faxes and e-mails.
Voting to allow the bill to proceed by ending debate were 33 Democrats, 12 Republicans and independent Joe Lieberman, Conn. Voting to block the bill by not limiting debate were 37 Republicans, 15 Democrats and independent Bernard Sanders, Vt. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., did not vote.
The bill would have toughened border security and instituted a new system for weeding out illegal immigrants from workplaces. It would have created a new guest worker program and allowed millions of illegal immigrants to obtain legal status if they briefly returned home.
Bush, making a last-ditch bid to salvage the bill, called senators early Thursday morning to urge their support. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez approached senators as they entered and left the chamber shortly before the vote.
"We have been in contact with members of Congress over the past couple of days and the president has made it clear that this is important to him," White House spokesman Tony Snow said before the vote.
But conservatives from Bush's own party led the opposition. They repeatedly said the government must secure the borders before allowing millions of illegal aliens a path to legal status.
"Americans feel that they are losing their country ... to a government that has seemed to not have the competence or the ability to carry out the things that it says it will do," said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn.
Sen. Elizabeth H. Dole, R-N.C., said many Americans "don't have confidence" that borders, especially with Mexico, will be significantly tightened. "It's not just promises but proof that the American people want," Dole said.
Answer:
We need to keep on them. This is only a small victory.
THANK GOODNESS!!
~doing victory dance~...
i shuddered at thinking about that bill passing!
I think Bush will try to bring it back. Snow was hinting at a press conference last night that the Fourth of July weekend is an arbitrary deadline. However, I hope the Senate's self interest will prevail since many wont want to continue getting beat up by their constituents.
Whatever happens they still won't leave. Dance to that trolls!
I agree with Dar that Bush will bring it back and do whatever it takes for it to go through...we'll have to wait and see.
I am doing a dance inside my head and heart after hearing the good news! But we must continue voicing our concerns with all of the problems that still exist with the illegal immigrant situation. At the moment, I'm not sure what I'm happiest about. That the Bill DIDN"T pass, OR that all of those TRAITORS in Washington DIDN"T get their way!
I would rather have my taxes pay for deportation rather than benefits. There will still be more to do even though it failed.
I've been dancing for 20 minutes!
HAIL YEAH!!
This is so sweet!
Even if the bill is truly dead (fingers crossed) we can't let things go back to business as usual - we must insist our borders be closed to all but legal traffic. Do a short victory dance then get back into the ballgame.
I'm doing my "HAPPY DANCE" for the time being but I'm also afraid that Bush will try his best to revive it.
Thank goodness one Senator from Indiana listened to the people he represents and flipped from his first vote.
First it's not a victory. If invaders were at the wall and we defended the wall we didn't win. THe invaders are still out there. It's not something we should dance , although I would give a sigh of relief. Remember, there are innocents caught in the middle.
We still need to address the issue, the longer we don't, the more complicated and more heartbreak would occur. A victory would be if we get them to start enforcing our borders.
edit: I think it's silly what people get thumbs down here for. Psi Chi is right about the fact they won't leave. I know some of you give her thumbs down for which side she's on, but she is reminding us that the bills defeat actually doesn't solve anything.
Now it's time to start massive round-up's and deportations. We have to let the illegal criminals know that we're not going to tolerate their criminal behavior anymore.
I'm doing the happy dance while i'm on the phone with my so called leaders. We must keep on them to avoid this again and to remind them that our border is still in need of some serious securing.
Yes, we should do a victory dance. All of those who contacted their senators to tell them to vote against this abominable bill should celebrate. But we must not relax. In the House there are two competing immigration bills; the Secure Borders First Act of 2007 and a Flake/Gutierrez bill that is almost as bad as the senate amnesty bill. We must contact our US reps and tell them to vote for the Secure Borders First act.
Secure Borders FIRST Act of 2007 Unveiled By House Members Bilbray, King, Smith
By Digger
Brian Bilbray (R-CA), Pete King (R-NY) and Lamar Smith (R-TX) unveiled a house bill on June 19, 2007 that is a slap in the face to President Bush and the US Senate who continue to pursue their amnesty for illegal aliens at all costs (most of which are to the US taxpayer and citizens of this country).
The Secure Borders FIRST Act of 2007 shows what a real immigration bill should look like. Enforcement, enforcement and enforcement. No special favors for big business. No special favors to the Mexican government. No special favors and the selling of US citizenship to those who have broken into our country illegally and marched through our streets demanding sh*t.
THANK YOU GOD!
Praise the Lord! *doing victory dance* YES! I was affraid it would go through to the house, but thank god the senate was smart enough to stop it there. What in the world is Bush thinking anyway.
You know what they say-
Democrats are a party of no ideas, but Republicans are a party of bad ideas.
Everytime we have a bad idea-It's the Republicans!
A republican always is the first to stand up to make an idea.
And they stand up and they say "I've got a really bad idea!" And a democrat stands up and goes "And I can make it crappier!"
But thank god the democrats and the republican senators have smartened up a bit after this. IMPEACH BUSH ALREADY! JEEZ!
But wait... we need to concern ourselves with one other thing! Let us not relax just yet fellow americans, because we might not be american for long. Pres. Bush has talked this over with Canada's and Mexico's presidents, and now this idiot wants to make Mexico Canada, and the U.S.A. one big country!
There is no victory for either side. Stop kidding yourself. Everything is still in neutral.
"They repeatedly said the government must secure the borders before allowing millions of illegal aliens a path to legal status."
As a pro this is what I really wanted. If they secure the border Mexico will have to start taking care of their poverty. The US govt is catering to Mexico right now.
In a way, but it is too soon to get too excited.
The Immigration information post by website user , MyTend.com not guarantee correctness.
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