The Senate voted 68-to-32 to pass the long-debated immigration bill on June 27, with 14 Republicans joining 52 Democrats and two independents. The extraordinary protocol for the vote highlighted its importance, with Vice President Biden presiding and the senators voting from their desks.<\/p>\n
The New York Times<\/em><\/a> summarized the bill\u2019s key components as providing a 13-year path to citizenship for the 11 million \u201cunauthorized\u201d immigrants in the country, as well as tough border security provisions that must be put in place before the illegal immigrants can gain legal status.<\/p>\n (For AP\u2019s roll call of the vote, click here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n The Times<\/em> reported that the \u201cGang of Eight\u201d group of senators who drafted the bill\u2019s framework delivered supportive speeches prior to the vote, signaling out Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). When he finished his speech, the other \u201cGang of Eight\u201d senators gathered around him on the floor, patting him on the back and praising his oratory. \u201cGood job,\u201d said one. \u201cI\u2019m proud of you,\u201d said another.<\/p>\n Rubio\u2019s highly visible role in the process was seen by many as an attempt by the Republican Party to improve its standing among Hispanic voters.<\/p>\n A report in USA Today<\/em><\/a> described the passage of the bill as \u201ca historic step forward for President Obama on one of the most important planks of his second-term agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n Following the vote, the White House released President Obama\u2019s statement <\/a>commenting on the bill\u2019s passage. It read, in part:<\/p>\n If enacted, the Senate bill would establish the most aggressive border security plan in our history. It would offer a pathway to earned citizenship for the 11 million individuals who are in this country illegally \u2013 a pathway that includes passing a background check, learning English, paying taxes and a penalty, and then going to the back of the line behind everyone who\u2019s playing by the rules and trying to come here legally. It would modernize the legal immigration system so that it once again reflects our values as a nation and addresses the urgent needs of our time. And it would provide a big boost to our recovery, by shrinking our deficits and growing our economy.<\/p>\n Today, the Senate did its job. It\u2019s now up to the House to do the same.\u2026<\/p>\n As this process moves forward, I urge everyone who cares about this issue to keep a watchful eye.\u00a0Now is the time when opponents will try their hardest to pull this bipartisan effort apart so they can stop commonsense reform from becoming a reality.\u00a0We cannot let that happen.\u00a0<\/p>\n The <\/a>Washington Post <\/em><\/a>reported that Thursday\u2019s vote was the culmination of more than six months of negotiations led by the \u201cGang of Eight,\u201d noting that two of the group\u2019s most high-profile members \u2013 John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) \u2013 had worked together as they rarely had in the past.<\/p>\n The Post<\/em> summarized the bill\u2019s progression through the Senate by noting that following the release of a proposed bill by the \u201cGang of Eight\u201d in April, the Senate Judiciary Committee spent 37 hours in deliberations spread over three weeks, during which the senators considered almost 300 proposed amendments. Finally, the panel referred the legislation to the full Senate.<\/p>\n However, the reporting on the thoroughness and benefits of the bill seems highly embellished. Though the Congressional Budget Office did claim in a recent report that the immigration law would provide new revenues for government, not a drain on government, the report admits that it did not take into account many costs, such as the future costs of immigrants as they use Social Security and other government benefits. All indications show<\/a> that the bill will be an economic boondoggle for the country. Also, the CBO reported that, even if the bill works exactly as its sponsors say it will, it will reduce immigration by only 25 percent going forward\u00a0\u2013 hardly a resounding success.<\/p>\n In a recent article<\/a>, we reported how two of the Senate\u2019s leading opponents to the immigration bill had attempted, without success, to amend it:<\/p>\n A press release <\/a>sent from [Sen. Ted] Cruz\u2019s office on June 19 noted that the senator had \u201cfiled additional amendments to S. 744 [the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act introduced by the Gang of Eight] to significantly improve border security measures, fix our immigration system in a manner that champions legal immigration, and uphold the rule of law by ensuring illegal immigrants granted legal status under this bill\u00a0are not given a path to citizenship.\u201d [Emphasis added.]<\/p>\n \u201cI very much want commonsense immigration reform to pass, but if this bill becomes law as currently written, it will not solve the problem. Instead it will make the problem of illegal immigration worse,\u201d Sen. Cruz said.<\/p>\n The other senator also attempting to put some teeth into the bill was Rand Paul (R-Ky.):<\/p>\n \u201cIf [the immigration bill] got stronger, I could consider it, but since they rejected my call to have Congress involved with determining whether the border is secure, I can\u2019t imagine how they can get me back unless they come back to me and say, \u2018We’ve changed our mind,\u2019\u201d Paul said. <\/a>\u201cWe would like Congress to be involved in this.\u201d<\/p>\n The Daily Caller <\/a><\/em>reported on Wednesday that the Senate voted 61 to 37 to table Paul\u2019s \u201cTrust but Verify\u201d amendment to the immigration bill that would have required a vote from Congress affirming that border security measures were working before illegal (aka \u201cundocumented\u201d) immigrants could be granted legal status.<\/p>\n Not surprisingly, both Cruz and Paul voted \u201cNo\u201d on Thursday.<\/p>\n Following the Senate vote, the immigration bill will go to the Republican-controlled House, where passage is far from assured.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Chicago<\/em> Sun-Times <\/em>quoted<\/a> from the statement by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio):<\/p>\n Apparently, some haven\u2019t gotten the message. The House is not going to take up and vote on whatever the Senate passes. We\u2019re going to do our own bill through regular order, and it\u2019ll be legislation that reflects the will of our majority and the will of the American people. And for any legislation, including a conference report, to pass the House, it\u2019s going to have to be a bill that has the support of the majority of our members.<\/p>\n Despite Boehner\u2019s strongly worded statement, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Thursday that he was \u201cconfident\u201d the House would pass the Senate\u2019s immigration legislation.<\/p>\n House Majority Leader Eric Cantor expressed concern that most legislators \u2013 including the senators who voted for the bill \u2013 don\u2019t know a great deal about what the bill contains. \u201cI can\u2019t tell you what\u2019s in that big Senate bill, and the well over 1,000 or 1,500 pages that it may be, and that\u2019s my concern,\u201d Cantor said in an interview with Yahoo News<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t know if you could ask a lot of the senators what\u2019s in that bill. And that\u2019s my concern.\u201d<\/p>\n The Senate bill just passed included a provision to spend almost $40 billion over the next decade to improve border enforcement, including adding 20,000 new Border Patrol agents and 700 miles of fencing along the southern border. This addition was the result of an amendment proposed by Senators Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and John Hoeven (R-N.D.). The New York Times <\/em>noted that that amendment \u201chelped bring along more than a dozen reluctant Republicans, who were hesitant to support the overall bill without a clear plan to secure the southern border, in order to ward off a future wave of illegal immigration.\u201d<\/p>\n However, as we noted in our article, \u201cPermanent Amnesty, Temporary Border\u201d:<\/p>\n Plans such as those produced by the \u201cGang of 8\u201d often include the promise of border security, in order to mollify the concerns of those who fear that open borders combined with amnesty and generous government benefits for illegals would produce an uncontrollable wave of illegal immigration….<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cBorder security\u201d has been promised in the past in connection with legalizing illegal immigrants who had already crossed the border. But though amnesty has been provided, the promise of border security remains elusive.<\/p>\n Related articles:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Sen. Ted Cruz Launches Petition Against Gang of Eight<\/a><\/p>\n