Green cards fade to black
Posted on June 28, 2007 - Filed Under Governance
President George W. Bush had valiantly fought to get the Immigration Reform Bill back on the floor but despite a compromise deal that was carefully crafted with Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid and other Democratic notables such as Sen. Ted Kennedy, the bill was effectively left for dead today . . . meeting the same fate that a similar measure did three weeks ago:
The Senate vote that drove a stake through the delicate compromise was a stinging setback for Bush, who had made reshaping immigration laws a central element of his domestic agenda. It could carry heavy political consequences for Republicans and Democrats, many of whom were eager to show they could act on a complex issue of great interest to the public.
“Legal immigration is one of the top concerns of the American people and Congress’ failure to act on it is a disappointment,” a grim-faced president said after an appearance in Newport, R.I. “A lot of us worked hard to see if we couldn’t find common ground. It didn’t work.”
For some 12 million undocumented aliens . . . including a good number of stateside Pinoy NPAs (no permanent addresses) . . . the bill would have set up a temporary worker program and a system to base future legal immigration more heavily on employment criteria, rather than family ties.
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