Sen. Graham: Obamacare Doomed Immigration Bill

[bobbyw24]

By: David A. Patten

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham says Democrats' aggressive push for healthcare reform has "poisoned the well" for immigration reform, leaving it effectively "dead" in the Senate.

"When I say immigration's dead in the Senate, risk-aversion abounds," Graham told the media during a Capitol Hill news conference, "Some of my colleagues will lose over healthcare. The consequences of this vote are going to be long-lasting politically."

Graham's view that immigration reform had been torpedoed by healthcare reform should come as no surprise to leading Democrats.



Lindsey has crossed party lines to work with Democrats several times, most recently to hammer out a bipartisan deal with Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., on creating a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. Some 12 million illegal aliens are believed to reside illegally in the United States.

According to Politico.com, Graham said that when he met with Schumer and the president to negotiate terms on immigration earlier this month, he expressed "In no uncertain terms, my belief that immigration reform could come to a halt for the year if health care reconciliation goes forward.”

Pushing healthcare reform through via reconciliation is precisely what the White House opted to do, however. And now Graham tells TheHill.com that a deal on immigration reform is virtually impossible, given the backlash over the partisan healthcare reform debate.

http://newsmax.com/InsideCover/lindsey-graham-healthcare-reform/2010/03/26/id/353994

 

[New2Libertarianism]

I'm pretty sure the people who don't want immigration reform still wouldn't want it even if Obama didn't go after health care.

 

[Condor Bastadon]

Good, it's a crap bill anyway. Graham is a bum.

 

[bobbyw24]

Immigration: Next Hot Button Issue for White House

Immigration reform has been pegged as the next big political battleground, according to an editorial in The Chicago Tribune and reports by CNN. Though it was overshadowed by the health care reform negotiations, advocates say a national march on Sunday, March 21, in Washington, DC, demanding immigration reform has set the stage for a move toward reforming the America's immigration law.

"This is the only issue area that had a concerted movement behind it," said Martine Apodaca, communications director at the National Immigrant Forum, which organized Sunday's march.

The march, which brought more than 150,000 people out to Washington's Mall, followed the announcement of a new plan sponsored by Sens. Charles Schumer (D-New York) and Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina). Their blueprint would offer a path to legalization, as well as a temporary worker program and tighter border controls.

President Obama said he would only consider working on immigration reform legislation if it had bipartisan support.

http://www.truthout.org/immigration-next-hot-button-issue-white-house58051