The Thomas Chronicles

I don’t think anyone thought this bill was going to die right away. Given the covert manner in which this bill was drafted and the ensuing railroad job from our “rulers”, it is not surprising that this bill went the way of “The Night of the Living Dead”. It keeps coming back alive to haunt the hollow corridors of the Senate even after you kill it.

WASHINGTON, June 14 — Senate Democratic and Republican leaders announced on Thursday that they had agreed on a way to revive a comprehensive immigration bill that was pulled off the Senate floor seven days ago.

The majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, and the minority leader, Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, said they expected the bill to return to the floor before the Fourth of July recess.

In a joint statement, Mr. Reid and Mr. McConnell said: “We met this evening with several of the senators involved in the immigration bill negotiations. Based on that discussion, the immigration bill will return to the Senate floor after completion of the energy bill.”

The immigration bill, ardently sought by President Bush, would make the biggest changes in immigration law and policy in more than 20 years.

It would increase border security, crack down on companies that employ illegal immigrants, establish a guest worker program and offer legal status to most of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.

The agreement does not guarantee that the bill will be approved by the Senate or become law.

Supporters of the bipartisan bill predict that some conservative Republicans will try to block a vote on final passage, because of concerns about the legalization program.

Predicting “procedural barriers,” Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the third-ranking member of the Senate Democratic leadership team, said, “Three or four senators will try to block every amendment.”

The House has held many hearings on immigration this year. House Democratic leaders, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have expressed concerns about major provisions of the Senate bill, including one that would give less weight to family ties in deciding who can immigrate to the United States.

A White House spokesman, Scott M. Stanzel, said, “We are encouraged by the announcement from Senate leaders that comprehensive immigration reform will be brought back up for consideration.”

The bill stalled on June 7, when supporters garnered just 45 of the 60 votes needed to end debate. Republican senators said that they had not been allowed to offer enough amendments.

Under the agreement reached on Thursday, the Senate will consider about 22 amendments, half from Republicans and half from Democrats.

Earlier in the day, trying to start the bill moving again in the Senate, Mr. Bush called for an immediate burst of $4.4 billion in spending to show that the government was committed to “securing this border once and for all.”

Senator Johnny Isakson, Republican of Georgia, described the call for $4.4 billion as “a good start.” But Mr. Isakson said Mr. Bush needed to do more to secure the border and to show that he was serious about enforcing immigration laws.

Comments by Republican senators on Thursday suggested that they were feeling the heat from conservative critics of the bill, who object to provisions offering legal status. The Republican whip, Trent Lott of Mississippi, who supports the bill, said: “Talk radio is running America. We have to deal with that problem.”

You can read the rest here.

I have a particular problem with Trent Lott’s statement about Talk Radio. After the virtual monopoly of the MSM by the liberals, Talk Radio provided an outlet for conservatives to vent some steam and conduct actual discussions about the direction of the country. This discussion has been sorely lacking for years, if not decades, where the American people can openly and publicly debate national and local issues.

How exactly does Trent Lott propose to “deal with this problem”? Silence them? Support the Democrat’s proposed Fairness Doctrine, which regulates the First Amendment’s freedom of speech clause?

I don’t think the American people should tolerate such loose statements from a national leader, Democrat or Republican, who glibly suggests to curb our freedom of speech. What national leaders say matters terribly, especially when they intimate extra-constitutional powers. For the moment, Senator Lott has not stated just how he is going to “deal with” the problem of Talk Radio, but the veiled threat behind it is very disturbing.

We have tolerated what amounts to seditious speech from the Leftists for six uninterrupted years (over forty if you count the Cold War era of unilateral disarmament and peacenik nonsense), but conservatives are the problem for criticizing an illegal immigration bill that has more holes in it than thirty-year-old pair of socks?

When President Bush flew all over the world and was greeted with massive protests to his presence, he responded that such protests and criticisms were what made democracy so wonderful— the ability to have dissident point of views. So, when conservatives criticize this illegal immigration bill, they’re xenophobic, racist and thoroughly rotten bastards?

I am not saying for one minute that I think the President is conversely bad for criticizing his conservative critics. Again, I want to stress that I like President Bush. If it weren’t for him, we’d be years into a Great Depression. Make no mistake. It was the President’s policies that granted us this relative peace within our own borders without setting off the “Big One” around the world. For that, I am truly grateful to him. But I do object to the name calling, and I object to Senator Trent Lott’s intimation to “deal with” Talk Radio. This is an important issue that will affect, is already affecting, 300 million Americans, even those living well beyond the border states.

This issue should be debated openly and frankly without any of the PC baggage that our leaders insist we carry. If they keep pushing on this issue and a host of other issues in complete disregard for the very people that put them in power, I’m afraid “We the People” might reach a stage where we might say “We don’t consent”.

I think all of us will rue the day we cross that Rubicon.

Mini-Update:

Michelle Malkin has more of Trent Lott’s curious behavior. For instance, did you know that if you type www.trentlott.com right now, you get (drumroll please) Moveon.org’s website? WTFO.

Allahpundit has more on Trent Lott as well, while Gateway Pundit has more on the President.

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