House Republicans introduce their own immigration bill - Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON — In a sharp rebuke to President Bush, House Republicans unveiled legislation Tuesday that would bar illegal immigrants from gaining legal status in the U.S., require tamper-proof birth certificates for Americans and make English the nation’s official language.
The measure’s core principles include gaining control of the border and enforcing existing immigration laws — it does not provide a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants as the Bush plan does.
The House bill stands virtually no chance of becoming law, or even advancing, in the Democratic-controlled Congress. Still, it casts in bold relief the split between Bush and many fellow Republicans in the immigration debate.
And, once again, this worries me somewhat. If the Senate Republicans come to feel they needn’t worry about how they vote on their bill because it won’t make it past the House, then we have a problem. There are a lot of horrible laws on the books simply because feckless legislators thought somebody else would clean up their messes for them.
Think Campaign Finance Reform, and the Brady Bill, for starters.
UPDATE: Kaus is thinking along the same lines:
McCain’s Fake Talk Express. - By Mickey Kaus - Slate Magazine
Don’t count on the House! Last night I ran into a veteran D.C. Democratic aide/strategist who confirmed one suspicion about the immigration bill: The House Dems are lowballing the number of votes they have for it. No way they need 70 GOP votes–though that is a number still being reported in the press. … Senators who vote for the bill thinking the House will kill it are probably deluding themselves … P.S.: I also suspect there is a certain amount of sandbagging going on with all the House talk about how the bill is going to be broken up and maybe just the enforcement parts passed, etc. Are they trying to ease the minds of Senate fence-sitters, assuring them the House won’t approve anything like the Senate’s “Grand Bargain”? This suspicion is unconfirmed, however. 1:37 P.M.
Submit to Stumbled Upon!
