Immigrant Bill Fallout May Hurt House GOP

[cal04]

In the wake of this week's massive demonstrations, many House Republicans are worried that a tough anti-illegal-immigration bill they thought would please their political base has earned them little benefit while becoming a lightning rod for the fast-growing national movement for immigrant rights. House Republicans rushed through legislation just before Christmas that would build hundreds of miles of fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, require that businesses verify the legality of all employees' status through a national database, fortify border patrols, and declare illegal immigrants and those who help them to be felons.

After more lenient legislation failed in the Senate last week, the House-passed version burst into the public consciousness this week, as hundreds of thousands of protesters across the country turned out to denounce the bill.
Yesterday, House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) issued a joint statement seeking to deflect blame for the harshest provisions of the House bill toward the Democrats, who they said showed a lack of compassion. "It remains our intent to produce a strong border security bill that will not make unlawful presence in the United States a felony," Hastert and Frist said.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) fired back that "there's no running away from the fact that the Republican House passed a bill and Senator Frist offered one that criminalizes immigrants." House Democrats acknowledged they helped block Republican efforts on the floor in December to soften the Republican-crafted section declaring illegal immigrants to be felons, but they said ultimate responsibility for the bill rests with the Republicans, who voted overwhelmingly for its passage. "The Democrats were not going to do anything to make it easier for Republicans to pass an atrocious bill," said Jennifer Crider, a spokeswoman for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/11/AR2006041101643.html

[C_U_L8R]

1. It's as if the curtain was suddenly pulled back

on the Republican Party and there they are
in their KKK hoods and Swastika Armbands
for all to see.. no commentary neccessary...
anyone with eyes and ears can witness
the inner hate and racism of the republicans.
I'm happy that it's all finally coming to the surface.
The truth aways will find a way.

[Hoping4Change]

2. This is rich. This is just another instance of rethugs being

uniters not a dividers. For years Mexican-Americans seem to to have shunned large scale political activism but rethugs have inspired large scale activism, they have unleashed a formidable force.