Bipartisan Duo Reunite for Immigration Reform--Irritating Conservatives

Caitlin Dickson 252 Views Feb 7, 2011

Bipartisan couple Lindsey Graham and Chuck Schumer are getting back together in the name of immigration reform. The two senators are reaching out to a mix of conservative and liberal groups to back their pro-immigration initiative, including "conservative evangelicals, the AFL-CIO, the Service Employees International Union, business organizations and immigrant advocacy groups," Politico reports. Schumer and Graham are up against a House of Representatives controlled by anti-immigration Republicans so the key to achieving comprehensive immigration reform is the support of major Republican players.

Washington Monthly's left-leaning Steven Benen thinks "comprehensive immigration reform is long overdue" and admires Graham's and Schumer's efforts but writes honestly that "putting aside questions of whether it's even possible to craft an immigration bill that could get 60 votes and overcome Republican obstructionism, I haven't the foggiest idea why anyone would think the GOP-led House would even consider such a measure." He points out House Republicans' commitment to block the DREAM Act as well as any other pathway to citizenship. "I'd love to be wrong about this, but unless someone came up with a way to pass important legislation without the House of Representatives, I'm inclined to put my hopes on immigration policy on hold for a long while."

The reactions of several conservative bloggers seem to support Benen's assumption that achieving bipartisan cooperation on immigration will be a lot harder than Graham and Schumer may think.

  • Weasel Zippers: "Time for Lindsey to be shown the door by South Carolina voters."
Oh, we have a political appetite to do something, Lindsey, just not what you want to do. We aren't interested in discussing anything sort of pathway to citizenship until the borders are secured. Period. And, as we saw with the Arizona illegal immigration issue, most Americans prefer cracking down on illegals, not giving them a pathway to citizenship.

Any Republican who goes on to push "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" should be the one who is scared about being promoted to "unemployed political hack."
  • Robert Stacy McCain: "Any such legislation would be DOA in the House, which means that this is just a scam to hustle campaign cash from open-borders advocates, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce."

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at cdickson at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.

Sources

Topics:
Related Articles   More by Caitlin Dickson

The GOP's Hispanic Voter Chasm

Right Calls Hillary's Bluff on Suing Over Arizona Law

Should the Census Count Illegal Immigrants?

 

178 Atlanta District Teachers and 38 Principals Helped Students Cheat

Twitter Townhall Not Going as Planned?

Elsewhere on the Web

User Comments

Please type your comment and click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be prompted to log in or register

  • The Atlantic Wire on Twitter
  • The Atlantic Wire RSS Feed
  • The Atlantic Wire iPhone App