Barbara Boxer’s Vote Against Cloture

June 9, 2007

From Ana Maria Patino:

As you know on Thursday, a motion to end debate (i.e. cloture) on the immigration bill in the U.S. Senate was defeated by a vote of 50 to 45. The motion needed 60 yes votes to pass and they were short by 15 votes.

If passed this motion would have ended the debate in the Senate on the immigration bill. Proponents of the cloture motion wanted to cut off the opportunity of conservative anti-immigrant Republicans to introduce any more draconian amendments aimed at immigrants and their families. These Republicans included Senators Jeff Sessions (R-ALA), Senator Jon Kyl, (R-Ariz.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), John Thune of (R-SD), Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) Jim Bunning (R- Kentucky and David Vitter (R-La.). Both Sessions and Cornyn were particularly bad and ALL of them should be targeted for removal the next election.

California Senators Dianne Feinstein voted for the motion and Barbara Boxer voted against it.

Senator Boxer has released the following statement regarding her decision to vote with the conservative Republicans on the cloture motion:

For Immediate Release Contact: Natalie Ravitz
June 7, 2007 (202) 224-8120

BOXER STATEMENT ON THE CLOTURE VOTE ON IMMIGRATION

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) today issued the following statement on the immigration bill:

“I know how hard my colleagues have worked—on both sides of the aisle—to put this immigration bill together. But I believe that this bill, as it currently stands, is unworkable and unfair. This bill needs to be clarified, simplified, and rectified before I can support it.

“If enacted, I believe the bill will lead to the exploitation of workers, including the 12 million undocumented immigrants we all hope to put on the path to legalization. I also believe it will exert downward pressure on wages at a time when we are already losing our middle class.

“I have always been troubled by the inclusion of a guestworker program in the bill. The guest worker program is designed, in my opinion, to create a permanent pool of insecure and low-paid workers whom I believe will never leave the country, even though they are supposed to, according to the rules of the program. This will only continue the cycle of illegal immigration.

“There are concepts in the bill I strongly support – a path to legalization for the 12 million undocumented immigrants, a secure border, AgJobs, and the DREAM Act.

“But this bill needs much more work. I believe we can achieve an immigration bill that will be fair and just to all, and the best chance for that is to vote against cloture and continue working as long as it takes to get it right.”