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Senate halts immigration bill
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"I strongly support comprehensive immigration reform. But this bill was not a sensible proposal, and therefore I couldn't support it."
Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a Silver City Democrat
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WASHINGTON — Twenty-four hours before the immigration reform bill went comatose, Sen. Pete Domenici warned senators they would have to ask themselves "whether you did right for your country" if the bill failed.
Ultimately, the Albuquerque Republican was among the 50 senators who voted Thursday not to bring the debate on the immigration bill to a close, causing Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, to withdraw the bill from the floor in frustration.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a Silver City Democrat, was never comfortable with the bill and also voted against Reid's cloture motion, one of 11 Democrats to do so.
Only seven Republicans voted to force a final vote on a bill that President Bush has made one of his top legislative priorities.
"I want to pass this bill, but we can't do it alone," said Reid, chiding Bush to get more involved in lobbying Republican support.
Most of the seven were members of the bipartisan coalition that had crafted the compromise bill behind closed doors.
Domenici considers himself an ally of that coalition, although he did not participate in the talks. But in the end, he sided with fellow Republicans, many of them diehard opponents of the bill, who wanted to offer more amendments.
Domenici said he was upset that he couldn't get a commitment from Senate leaders to get up-or-down votes on several of his own amendments. One would have brought two more federal judges to New Mexico to deal with the caseload of illegal immigrants. Others would set aside 25 percent of the 200,000 temporary guest workers for small businesses and expand the range of Mexican citizens who could shop at New Mexico cities on a short-time visa.
"The refusal of Democrats to allow consideration of these and my other amendments is nothing short of irresponsible behavior toward the security of America and the needs of New Mexico," Domenici declared.
However, Reid pointed out that when he could never get a list from Republican leaders on what amendments they wanted considered and that when he tried to bring up Republican amendments, opponents of the bill objected.
Domenici also didn't like two of the late-night changes to the bill Wednesday. One, approved 49-48, ended the guest worker program after five years, meaning it would have to go through Congress again to be reauthorized.
The other, approved 64-33, made English the national language. The New Mexico Constitution guarantees equal rights for Spanish speakers, he pointed out.
Bingaman was not among the Democrats who negotiated the compromise bill. He opposed several of its provisions, including the guest worker program, which he considers unworkable because it requires the workers to periodically return to their home countries.
"I strongly support comprehensive immigration reform," Bingaman said. "But this bill was not a sensible proposal, and therefore I couldn't support it."
Sen. Reid has said he hopes to bring the bill up again in the coming weeks, Bingaman added, "so we still have an opportunity to pass immigration reform legislation this year."
Ironically, the Senate will now turn to Bingaman's energy bill, which also is expected to draw many amendments next week.
Gov. Bill Richardson, who opposed the immigration bill in its current form, criticized the Senate for not completing the measure.
"The collapse of this important legislation demonstrates a tragic breakdown of lawmakers' ability to build compromise and the president's ability to work with Congress to get things done," he said in a statement. "It is also clear evidence of the ongoing disconnect between Washington and the American public."
