Politics May Thwart Reform

Writing in US News & World Report, Angie Marek notes that election year politics may block efforts for comprehensive immigration reform.

“When he appeared in Yuma, Ariz., last week to deliver an endorsement of “comprehensive immigration reform”-shorthand for a border-security bill with a guest-worker program-President George W. Bush said he thought “the atmosphere up there [in Washington] is good right now” for such a bill. The sunny statement matched the Arizona morning, but it may not reflect the current reality. Most advocates of such policies say they’re facing major obstacles in Congress: In the Senate, weeks of closed-door negotiations have failed to yield a proposal acceptable to Democrats. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, says she won’t even consider bringing a bill to the floor until at least 70 Republicans support it, or enough to inoculate Democrats against attacks from the right.

“As the 2008 elections draw closer, the politics of immigration are shifting. A bill must be bipartisan to pass the Senate. But presidential ambitions seem to be moving two of the White House’s longtime allies on this issue-Sens. John McCain and Sam Brownback-to the right, where they can court the Republican base, which includes a vocal segment opposing amnesty. Moderate Democrats, meanwhile, are skittish: Many campaigned in 2006 on a get-tough border platform.” Click here for the rest of the story.

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