If you were watching C-SPAN this past hour, the United States Senate, just prior to passage of S-2611, the comprehensive immigration reform bill that President Bush has been salivating over, approved a provision that, were it signed into law, would require that the United States government first consult with Mexico before erecting any border wall or fence. This has been confirmed by Lou Dobbs of CNN. Need I say anymore? A sense of betrayal and outrage hardly defines my feelings presently.
More to follow …
FOLLOW-UP: Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) has confirmed for CNN that the provision was placed into the bill just before final passage. Per Senator Kyl, the United States government could not begin construction of any barrier along the contiguous U.S.-Mexico border without first consulting with the government of Mexico.
FOLLOW-UP II: I’m not sure if this is the amendment in question — introduced by Senator Arlen Specter and for which the Senate Website only states: “To improve the bill.” There’s no further elaboration. I’ll continue trying to obtain further information. (Frank Laughter of Common Sense Junction speaks directly to this issue and, yes, Folks, the amendment number I have cited/linked to is known as the “Manager’s” amendment and was introduced by Senator Specter).
FOLLOW-UP III: See Michelle Malkin’s “Hot Air” with commentary on S-2611. She also has the reaction to passage of the monstrosity at her primary site. Check out her link to the Teddy Roosevelt quote!
FOLLOW-UP IV: Here’s the roll call vote on S-2611, published at the Senate’s Website. It passed 62-36, with 2 senators not voting. Here’s the vote by the Senators’ homestates.
FOLLOW-UP V: Robert Rector has just told Lou Dobbs that S-2611 is the most “castastrophic legislation” he’s seen in 25 years of observing Washington.
FOLLOW-UP VI: If I have counted correctly, 22 Republicans joined 39 Democrats and 1 Independent in effecting the total of 62 votes in favor of S-2611; 4 Democrats joined 32 Republicans in effecting the total of 36 votes against S-2611; 2 Democrats did not vote on the bill. This means that the President of the United States — a Republican — has joined ranks with the Democratic Party to secure the comprehensive immigration reform legislation he has been seeking, replete with a Guest Worker Program and a path toward earned citizenship for illegal aliens, and he and the Democrats will now go head-to-head with members of his own political party to defeat the prevailing mindset in the Republican-controlled House that supports “border security first” — a bill the House passed last December (i.e., the Sensenbrenner bill that the majority of Americans also supports). So President Bush is going against the grain of Republican Party sentiment and against the grain of the majority of the American people he and the Congress represent, in an effort to placate business interests, the Mexican government, and Latino activists in this country. And you wonder why his popularity is at a low ebb and Conservatives are abandoning him in droves!
FOLLOW-UP VII: Michelle Malkin is on the story now about the requirement for the U.S. to first consult with Mexico before erecting any border fencing. This is political correctness run amuck and is consistent with the unadulterated crap going on in the United States Senate. Interesting that S-2611 passed because 62 Senators didn’t consult first with the majority opinion of America’s likely voters!
FOLLOW-UP VIII: John Hawkins (Right Wing News) provides the roster of Republican Senators who aligned with Mexico City, rather than with Main Street, America. McCain, Frist, and Brownback can forget their presidential ambitions and neither Graham nor Lugar is ever going to be married up as the GOPs Veep nominee.
FOLLOW-UP IX: Bob Cunningham, given a platform by John Hinderaker at Power Line, lays it all out there on the line for President Bush, the GOP, and the RNC; but, as compelling as his writing is, they’re just not listening to us (except in the House!). Nonetheless, kudos to Mr. Cunningham and a round of applause for John for publishing Bob.
FOLLOW-UP X: No surprise here, but galling just the same.
FOLLOW-UP XI (05/26/06): Bill Frist, Senate Minority Leader, is quoted in The Washington Times.
S-2611, Hagel-Martinez Bill, U.S. Senate, Senate, Lou Dobbs, Immigration, Immigration Reform, Illegal Immigration, Border Security, Border Enforcement, Politics, News, Current Events, President Bush, Robert Rector
Open the flood gates cause the S__T is going to hit the fan at our borders now. Our new Presidente Fox will tell our newest southern state, Mexico, that all should run to the north. Segundo (second in charge) Jorge Boosh will be the official “Bienvenidos” welcomer..like at wallmart. This is friggin nuts. We just got the enchilada broken off in our rectum. Wait till the 30 or more million family memebers come here. You talk about a tax bill. Forget sending your kids to college, we will be supporting millions of families for God knows how long. I need a glass of wine….
Comment by Sparky — May 25, 2006 @ 6:49 pm
That would just make it official. Bush de facto surrendered our sovereignty over the Mexican border 5 years ago. We just didn’t realize it.
The mission is clear. Stop it in the House.
Comment by Frank Laughter — May 25, 2006 @ 7:14 pm
Look at it this way, now the majority of American people know who the enemies to this country are. Some of these 62 traitors are coming up for re-election. Perhaps they can find a government position in Mexico since they won’t have one here. Oh, but wait. Mexico only allows 3,000 new citizens a year, and unlike the U.S. which only places native-born requirements on the Presidency and Vice Presidency, all government jobs in Mexico have a native-born requirement.
Kennedy, McCain, and Bush are all on the same side on this. I have never protested before and I don’t know how. But, maybe it is time to find some markers and poster boards before it is too late.
Comment by Publius — May 25, 2006 @ 11:11 pm
Mexico must approve any fence?????…
This is outrageous. There is a lot that the House needs to remove, but this is definitely one of the big ones….
Trackback by Don Singleton — May 26, 2006 @ 9:06 am
[…] May I ask you, please, to read the following from Roy Beck, president, NumbersUSA, published in an important post by my good friend Frank Laughter of Common Sense Junction. It’s important because we all need a boost in the wake of passage yesterday of the incomprehensible, amnesty-first, Mexico-first bill — S-2611. […]
Pingback by A CERTAIN SLANT OF LIGHT » DON’T BE DISCOURAGED; THE FIGHT CONTINUES! — May 26, 2006 @ 9:50 am
[…] To wit: the president condemned the patriotic members of the Minuteman Project as vigilantes, while not budgeting for the additional 2,000 U.S. Border Patrol agents that he was authorized by Congress to hire and train in 2006; his administration, via the Department of Homeland Security, has provided information to the Mexican government on the whereabouts of Minuetman patriots; his administration has committed “up to 6,000″ National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, but most will be unarmed and relegated to non-military back-up roles and cycled there and back in only two to three week “training” stints, rendering them virtually innocuous in combating illegal border-jumping; the president supports Senate bill S-2611 and its comprehensive immigration reform provisions versus the House-passed, border-security-first, Sensenbrenner bill (which the majority of Americans prefer), and with a provision in S-2611 that calls for consultations with Mexico before any fence, wall, or vehicle barrier is erected along the southern border; and the president, Neville Chamberlain-like, has done everything in his power to placate and appease Mexico’s Vicente Fox all along the way. […]
Pingback by A CERTAIN SLANT OF LIGHT » WHY HAS OUR GOVERNMENT ACQUIESCED TO VICENTE FOX? — May 28, 2006 @ 3:18 pm