As the second week of debate on the Gang of 8 immigration bill got underway today, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, began his floor speech outlining the week ahead. As he said, “I hope we can make more progress on this vital legislation.” Leahy went...
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This week, the Senate began debate on the immigration reform bill. If you’ve been watching, you’re seeing just how complicated the process in the Senate can be. It’s subject to a lot of delaying tactics and procedural games. As you can imagine, opponents of reform–led by Senator Jefferson Beauregard...
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Today, on the Senate floor, we saw something we hadn’t seen yet in the immigration debate: A Senator actually invoked the Heritage Foundation’s infamous anti-immigrant report. Sure, Rep. Steve King has cited the report, but he’s so extreme we’d expect it from him. But Utah’s Mike Lee seemed unfazed by the controversy...
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Earlier today, as we noted, Majority Leader Harry Reid said: I am concerned that some who oppose the very idea of reform see these triggers as a backdoor way to undermine the legislation. And I believe some Republicans with no intention of voting for the final bill – regardless...
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Yesterday Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) came out in favor of the Gang of 8 Senate immigration bill, making her the first non-Gang of 8 Republican to do so. Today, the Chicago Tribune has a great editorial calling out its junior Senator, Republican Mark Kirk, for not yet taking a similar...
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A number of print outlets ran great pieces this weekend on the need for immigration reform, from the New York Times to USA Today to the Washington Post. One of them was the New Hampshire Union Leader, which ran an op-ed from five former chairmen of the state Republican...
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Once again, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) is leading the charge to undermine immigration reform. As our Executive Director here at America’s Voice Frank Sharry has noted, Cornyn has played that role before, the last time immigration reform legislation was debated in 2006-2007. This time, Cornyn is planning to introduce a...
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There’s been a lot of news about Senator John Cornyn’s plans to introduce a poison pill border security amendment when the Gang of 8 immigration bill hits the floor next week. This afternoon, Greg Sargent reports on a very important development: Senate Democrats aren’t going along with Cornyn. They...
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As immigration reform heads to the Senate floor, those who watch the issue are starting to count heads and gauge which legislators might be in support. In the Senate, if all Democrats and Independents vote for the bill, that’s 54 votes. There’s one seat currently open after the death...
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Yesterday at DailyKos, Markos Moulitsas took a look at the amendments Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) is proposing to the Senate immigration reform bill. Markos examines Hatch’s strategy in relation to the GOP’s fumbling attempts to attract Latino voters, and concludes that Hatch’s amendments could have negative impact on the GOP effort:...
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