Little Progress Made on Immigration Deal

As the Senate headed for a final vote on immigration policy today, the rift between the administration and House Republicans on the issue seemingly deepened Wednesday as GOP lawmakers rebuffed attempts by White House aide Karl Rove to win their support for the broad overhaul endorsed by President Bush.

“There’s a lot of emotion coming out there,” Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said after leaving the morning meeting between Rove and House Republicans while it was still in progress. “Some of the members, the smoke is probably coming out their ears, as it’s coming out of mine.”

He added: “I didn’t see [the meeting] as ... an exchange of ideas as much as it was an exchange of arguments.”

The session followed a White House meeting Tuesday at which Bush pressed House Republicans to support an immigration bill that extends beyond beefing up enforcement along U.S. borders and at work sites -- the focus of a House bill passed late last year. Rove, Bush’s senior political advisor, made similar arguments during a visit to Capitol Hill last week.

Bush has thrown his weight behind the Senate approach, which calls not only for tougher enforcement but for a guest worker program and a path to U.S. citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants currently in the country.

But conservative Republicans in both chambers of Congress see legalization measures as amnesty -- an unacceptable reward for lawbreakers and an unacceptable position to support in an election year.

The White House is pushing lawmakers to compromise on a bill to send to the president. So far, those attempts seem to be going nowhere.

“I’m not sensing [movement] among people who haven’t been willing to compromise in the past,” Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) said of his colleagues.

King criticized a “tremendous resistance” on the administration’s part to enforcing existing immigration laws. “So why should we think [it’s] going to enforce any laws we might pass? ... The [administration’s] credibility on that is gone.”

Despite such barbed remarks, Rove insisted after Wednesday’s meeting that he “could be” making headway toward a compromise.

Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas), the former House majority leader, also stressed the positive, saying a solution to the impasse could be “very close.” But the scenario he detailed could spark widespread opposition in the Senate.

He said the House was open to discussing a temporary worker program but would not consider legalization provisions, which he termed amnesty.

“If the Senate would back off legalization ... then I think you could come out with a very strong package that protects our borders, enforces our laws and has a strong temporary worker program,” he said. “And I think that is what will ultimately come out.

“But if the Senate or the president insists on an amnesty-type path to citizenship, it’s a nonstarter and you won’t get a bill.”

DeLay said it was “incredibly important” for Congress to produce a final bill before November elections. (He himself is resigning Congress next month because of legal problems that clouded reelection prospects.)

On the Senate side, a bipartisan group of lawmakers have said they will not accept legislation that fails to address the residency status of the nation’s estimated 12 million illegal immigrants, describing the issue as a matter of national security.

The Senate set the stage for today’s expected passage of its bill by voting Wednesday, 73 to 25, to limit debate on it. California’s senators, Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, voted for the motion.

Several senators said they hoped that negotiations with the House on a compromise could begin quickly, and they predicted that passage of their chamber’s bill would help spur the talks.

“The Senate bill will provide a certain amount of momentum,” said Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.).

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Bush’s increased involvement in the immigration debate also would help.

“The support of our president is going to get us not only through final passage [of a bill] in the Senate, but through a compromise that will come out of the House and the Senate,” Graham said.

Specter and Graham were part of the bipartisan group that backed the Senate’s broader bill and, during debate that began last week, thwarted repeated efforts to radically alter it.

Another coalition member, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), said he and others were speaking to their colleagues in the House to try to form an alliance that would result in a compromise bill.

“We are all reaching out,” McCain said. “There are ad hoc groups all over the place.”

He said many House members “realize the worst of all worlds is if nothing is done” on immigration.

In Wednesday’s debate, the Senate considered several amendments, including one designed to kill the bill on a technicality. That failed, 67 to 31.

Lawmakers approved, 73 to 25, a proposal to raise the fine that illegal immigrants would pay as part of the legalization process, with the increase going to fund border security initiatives. The increase of $500 would bring total fines and fees in the legalization process to $3,250.

Boxer and Feinstein supported the measure.