Immigration
Posted: Friday, June 08, 2007 9:08 AM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:
White House, Congress
NBC’s Ken Strickland says that the Senate last night failed to meet to the 60-vote threshold to limit debate and put the comprehensive immigration bill on a path to final passage.
Per Strick, the Republicans voting FOR cloture: Graham, Hagel, Lugar, Martinez, McCain, Voinovich, Specter
Democratic voting AGAINST: Baucus, Bingaman, Boxer, Byrd, Dorgan, Landrieu, McCaskill, Pryor, Rockefeller, Tester, Webb
Independents: Lieberman voted for cloture; Sanders voted against
Not voting: Brownback, Coburn, Enzi, Johnson, (Thomas)
The Boston Globe writes that last night’s vote delivered “a heavy blow to President Bush” and greatly diminishes “the chances of resolving the politically loaded issue before the 2008 elections.”
The New York Times: “The outcome, which followed an outpouring of criticism of the measure from core Republican voters and from liberal Democrats as well, was a significant setback for the president. It came mainly at the hands of members of his own party after he championed the proposal in the hope of claiming it as a major domestic policy achievement in the last months of his administration.”
More: "The collapse of the measure came as Mr. Bush was in Europe for an international economic summit, and it was not immediately clear how hard he would fight to resurrect the bill upon his return next week. Scott Stanzel, a White House spokesman, said the White House still held hope that a bill could be passed.”
The Washington Post’s Balz: “The defeat of the legislation can be laid at the doorstep of opponents on the right and left, on congressional leaders who couldn't move their troops and on an increasingly weakened president… But together it added up to another example of a polarized political system in which the center could not hold… If Washington cannot produce a solution to the glaring problem of immigration, they will ask, what hope is there for progress on health care, energy independence, or the financial challenges facing Medicare and Social Security? Iraq is another matter entirely.”
