Senate passes immigration bill overhaul

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., talks with reporters on Capitol Hill Thursday, May 25, 2006, after the Senate voted 62-36 to overhaul the nation's immigratikon laws. Left to right are Frist, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. AP Photo.

Well, it appears that President Bush has got his election year victory bill for immigration reform. You can expect the President to tout this immigration reform bill for the midterm elections. This is from Yahoo News:

WASHINGTON - Legislation to secure U.S. borders and offer millions of illegal immigrants access to the American dream cleared the Senate on Thursday, a rare election-year reach across party lines and a triumph for
President Bush.

The 62-36 vote cleared the way for arduous summertime compromise talks with the House on its version that focuses on border enforcement — with no guarantee of success.

The legislation includes money to better secure the borders, provide a new guest worker program and give an eventual shot at citizenship to many of the estimated 11 million to 12 million immigrants in the country illegally.

The House bill, which passed on a largely party-line vote last year, is generally limited to border enforcement. It would make all illegal immigrants subject to felony charges and it contains no provision for either a new temporary worker program or citizenship for men, women and children in the country unlawfully.

In contrast, the Senate bill would mark the most far-reaching changes in immigration law in two decades. Built on compromise after painstaking compromise, it was designed to appeal to conservatives and others seeking tougher border enforcement; business interests eager for a steady supply of legal, low-wage labor; unions seeking enhanced protections for migrants who often toil in seasonal work the fields and Hispanics who are on the cusp of greater political power and determined to win a change in legal status for millions of illegal immigrants.

The House bill on immigration reform doesn't surprise me here--add more guards, more barbed wire, and stop the supply of illegal immigrants from coming across the border. The house bill does nothing to punish business and corporate interests who use this form of cheap illegal slave labor to drive down American wages. It is immigration reform that was written by Corporate America. The Senate bill is different. There is a combination of many different issues here--money to secure the border areas, a "guest worker" program, a possible amnesty program, and even an electronic verification system so that companies will be accountable for hiring decisions. I'd like to say it is a good start towards immigration reform....

But I'm still not sure. I guess I will take a "wait and see" look.