Would it surprise you if I said most of them were on the fence?
"In immigration bill drama, vital roles for N.E. senators" by Noah Bierman | Globe Staff, May 31, 2013
WASHINGTON — In an immigration debate rife with calls to wall off Mexico, New England’s senators seem grounded in an alternate universe. Several want assurances that sweeping new legislation won’t fence off the region’s northern boundary, or otherwise disturb “free and open borders” with Canada.
Despite that difference, the region’s senators are in prominent roles to shape the legislation, which beefs up border security while also providing a path for illegal immigrants to become citizens.
Notice how the work visas and insourcing of cheap foreign labor is no longer a focus of the corporate pre$$ in their framing of the i$$ue.
Senator Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, will manage the floor debate, which could begin next week. Already, as chairman of the Judiciary Committee that reviewed and approved the bill last week, he engineered the amendment to maintain an open, fence-free border with Canada.
Republican senators Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Susan Collins of Maine are seen as potentially important swing votes. They have yet to declare their positions, and are being targeted by activists on both sides of the issue.
I expect it to clear the Senate, and thus all hopes for defeat will rest in the abhorred and hated Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
What an upside-down world we live in where "radical, right-wing" Republicans are our saviors (as such not saying much) on the home front while the Russians are the voice of sanity in international affairs.
Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats, has been leading the critique from the left, supporting a path to citizenship for immigrants who are in the country illegally, but speaking out against “an all-out effort” by employers “to bring in cheap labor” through work visas. He is also publicly uncommitted on the measure.
Oh, so Bernie knows what I do.
The bill passed 13 to 5 in the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, and supporters are hoping for backing from most Democrats and a sizeable number of Republicans when it comes up for a vote before the full Senate.
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has said she supports the bill, and fellow Bay State Democrat William “Mo” Cowan said in a statement that the bill is imperfect but “a huge step forward," which he hopes he can support when it comes up for a final vote.
Well, Liz is wrong on this one, although (as expected) I'm sure she's doing the straight party line thing, and Mo might even be gone by the time it comes to a vote, replaced by Markey or Gomez.
“We have to ask ourselves, from the left or right, do you want immigration reform or not?” Leahy said in an interview....
Not what is being proposed, no.
Related: Sunday Globe Special: The Long Arm of Leahy
Didn't want that either, but....
Even if the Senate passes the bill, the degree of support and its final form will likely influence negotiations with the House, where lawmakers are more wary of granting illegal immigrants a 13-year path to citizenship, which opponents say amounts to amnesty....
The rest of the article is all about enforcement (or lack thereof) and not wanting a fence along the northern border -- which is a nonissue since most of it is heavy forest.
--more--"
Related: Immigration Bill Inches Forward in Senate
Senate may OK immigration bill
That's next week.
"The latest in a series of setbacks for gay-rights legislation. Despite the setbacks, gay rights activists remain hopeful that the tide will soon change in their favor."
Nothing against them personally, but what a bunch of pernicious pests that seem to attach themselves to everything. A sure sign of an agenda being pushed if I've ever seen one. I've surrendered on the issue; my state's claim to fame is being a trailblazer on the issue.
Also see:
Harvard students erupt at scholar Jason Richwine’s claim in thesis
Racists at Harvard is nothing new. I think it comes with the elitism.
Heritage immigration report raises doubts — about Heritage
Picking Up the Pace of Immigration Reform
Also see:
Menino should move now on major reform of taxi system
Boston takes first steps on cab industry abuses
IRS agents raid Boston Cab headquarters
Related: Sunday Globe Specials: Waves of Immigrants
Can't stop 'em.
NEXT DAY UPDATES:
"Boston police have responded to the scandal. In April, police placed Mark Cohen, the civilian employee who directs the Hackney Unit, on paid leave from his $110,000-a-year position pending an internal review of a reportedly heated exchange that he had with a subordinate. Police are investigating possible mismanagement of funds intended to aid families of taxi drivers who die on duty, money that was collected by Cohen’s unit and is now unaccounted for. Both reviews are pending."
Welcome to AmeriKa.
Going outside New England now:
"Lautenberg’s death adds to Democrats’ legislative troubles; Upcoming votes on immigration, nominees at issue" by Jeremy W. Peters | New York Times, June 04, 2013
WASHINGTON — The death of Senator Frank R. Lautenberg of New Jersey poses new complications for the White House and Democrats on Capitol Hill as they try to push their agenda through the US Senate, where even a single vote can derail legislation.
So crucial was Lautenberg’s reliably liberal vote in a Senate where his party held a 55-to-45 majority — until his death Monday of complications from viral pneumonia — that Democratic leaders twice asked him in recent weeks to return to Washington to vote despite his failing health.
Look, I know politics is important, but there is something unseemly about that.
Just last month, Lautenberg, 89, made a special trip to the Capitol to supply a key vote that saved President Obama’s nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency from being stalled indefinitely in committee.
Republicans were threatening to boycott the vote to deny Democrats a quorum. Lautenberg agreed to attend to provide the quorum.
Related: GOP Eases Up on Obama's EPA Nominee
In one memorable instance in April, his aides helped push him out onto the Senate floor in his wheelchair to cast much-needed “yes” votes for a package of gun control legislation.
Related: "Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, a five-term New Jersey Democrat and reliably liberal legislator who campaigned to toughen antismoking laws and environmental regulations, died Monday at a hospital in New York City. He was 89. His office issued a statement confirming the death. He had complications of viral pneumonia, according to the statement, and had previously suffered from cancer."
And yet they are wheeling him out there while he is on his deathbed. Why not just move the hospital bed into the hall?
Although the bills were ultimately defeated in a Republican-led filibuster, his presence that day served as a reminder for how the majority leader, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, must scrape for almost every vote.
So it really didn't matter whether he was wheeled out or not.
Reid must now scrape even harder now that Lautenberg’s successor is expected to be a Republican.
The state’s governor, Chris Christie, a Republican, will make the appointment pending a special election at a time to be determined.
“The last thing Senator Reid can afford right now is to lose a reliable Democratic vote in a highly partisan Senate,” said Jim Manley, a former adviser to the majority leader when the illnesses of Edward M. Kennedy and Robert C. Byrd caused problems for Democrats, who controlled even fewer seats.
“He’s got a better margin to play with than he did back when Senator Byrd and Senator Kennedy were sick,” Manley added. “But the fact of the matter is it’s tough to lose a reliable Democratic vote right now.”
Maybe we should start thinking about age restrictions on these guys.
Christie’s appointee will arrive in the Senate as the body prepares to tackle some of the most significant domestic policy issues in years.
An immigration overhaul is at the top of the Senate agenda and will move to the floor next week.
Like any other matter that the Senate takes up these days, the threat of a filibuster all but requires the support of 60 senators, which is the threshold at which a filibuster can be broken.
Not on that i$$ue.
Although Republicans and Democrats who support major changes in US immigration law agree that the plan stands a good chance of getting 60 votes, they have been counting every head, leaving nothing to chance.
Losing a vote is more problematic on another issue that has drawn both parties into a bitter feud: presidential nominations, with Republicans threatening to filibuster several of President Obama’s Cabinet-level nominees, including his choices for director of the Environmental Protection Agency and for secretary of Labor.
Several other confirmation battles loom.The White House, which has said it is exhausted by Republican efforts to thwart the president’s ability to select his own Cabinet members and name people to the federal judiciary, is expected to soon nominate three judges at once to serve on a top appellate court, a move that is sure to inflame a situation that is already fraught.
Where a single vote could matter the most to Reid is if he moves ahead with a plan to ram through changes to the Senate’s filibuster rules so Republicans are much more limited in how they can block the president’s Cabinet and judicial nominees.
Many Democrats are wary of such a change — known as the “nuclear option” — not only because it would alter one of the Senate’s most fundamental procedures but also because they could one day find themselves in the minority wishing they had unfettered filibuster power.
Except they never used it under Bush.
Reid has said he believes that he needs just 51 votes to change the filibuster rules, although ordinarily rules changes require a two-thirds majority.
--more--"
