NZ Bear has the text of the McCain-Kennedy amnesty bill, aka draft immigration bill, aka The “Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act of 2007”. It is time-consuming, but you should read it.
Hugh Hewitt has an 8-part series of comments on the bill.
Illegal aliens would not be subject to back taxes. Had I known, I would have declared myself an illegal alien and stopped paying taxes years ago. It would have saved me enough money to buy myself a nice place at an offshore tax haven so I won’t have to pay the taxes that will have to support the bureaucracy the bill will create.
Because it will overload the existing bureaucracy, and not just the DHS and ICE.
Powerline has “F*** you”: The inside story
Senator Cornyn, tacitly supported by Sen. Jon Kyl, pushed hard to streamline legal procedures to allow prompt deportation of illegals. Senator Kennedy resisted.
As the clock moved closer to 1:30 p.m., Senator McCain suddenly lost it. “This is chickenshit,” he told Senator Cornyn. “I think it would expedite things if you would just leave the room, Senator, so we can get along with finishing this up.” Senator Cornyn responded: “Wait a minute. We’ve been meeting for three months on this in good faith, and now you parachute in here this morning and tell me to leave? I think you’re out of line.”
Senator McCain responded: “F*** you! I know what is going on here. I know more about immigration than anybody in this room!” Other Senators moved in to calm things down, and the talks went on. Senator Cornyn’s provision was not included. At 1:30 p.m. sharp, the conferees (not including Senators Cornyn or Menendez and a few other negotiators) were in the press gallery, congratulating each other. Senator Kennedy recognized Senator McCain early to make his televised comments, then Senator McCain departed before the press conference was over for a flight to New York City. Later that afternoon, he missed yet another Senate vote – this one on the Democrats’ $2.9 trillion budget plan, an outline for the largest tax increase in U.S. history.
Mark Steyn calls it Capitulation, from A—— to Z
Time for an Amnesty bill deathwatch?
My take on all this for the 2008 election:
The Republican candidate that manages to do a campaign running against the Bush administration, strong against illegal immigration and strong on winning in Iraq and Afghanistan, will be the winner in all of this. It can be done, and I suggest that the candidate considering this course of action call Sarkozy’s campaign manager. He did it.
Special thanks to Larwyn for the links.
Update From Rob, Kennedy Dupes Republicans on Immigration Bill
Conservatives will be especially disappointed. They’ve already watched President Bush sell out to Kennedy on education and Medicare reform. But Bush’s collusion with the Massachusetts Democrat on immigration reform threatens to alienate them permanently. Heaven forbid that Bush try to reform anything else in his remaining 20 months in office.
Of course, the President doesn’t bear all the responsibility. Many Republicans in Congress are equally responsible for failing to protect the principles that voters sent them to Washington to defend. Conservatives have come to expect such behavior from Republicans such as Sen. Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania moderate. The shocker is that conservative Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) went along with it.
The GOP’s failure on immigration reform is most astounding because the issue is crystal clear: There are those who follow the law and those who break it. If one issue galvanized conservatives, this was it. Some have even traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border to safeguard our country. Two Republican members of the U.S. House, Reps. Duncan Hunter (Calif.) and Tom Tancredo (Colo.), launched long-shot presidential bids because of the issue.
Response to White House Myth/Fact on Immigration Bill
10 Key Myths About the Amnesty Agreement Go read every one of them.
Update: Senator McCain held a bloggers‘ call for a more sympathetic audience.
