House Republicans will make one final push for border security-only bill before election

September 7, 2006

House Republicans plan to make a final push to get border-security legislation on President Bush's desk before November's elections. Top Republicans are planning a series of tough new border-security measures that they hope can get through the Senate.

The new strategy follows the official rejection of a Senate immigration bill that would grant citizenship rights to some 10 million illegal aliens now in the country.

The Senate has opposed border-security legislation unless the legislation includes a guest-worker program and grants citizenship rights to the estimated the millions of illegal aliens already in the U.S.

Tennessee Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said it would be 'next to impossible' to approve comprehensive immigration reform, however, several key senators said they are willing to consider a border-security-only approach.

The new House effort comes after an August recess during which Republicans in both the House and Senate held a series of 'field hearings' to further explore the problem of illegal immigration.

They are now worried that voters will blame them for not doing more because they control the White House and both chambers of Congress.

House Republicans say they get little credit for having approved a border-security bill 10 months ago and the Republican Congress as a whole gets little credit for the border-security improvements that have passed both chambers.

The sticking point for border-security legislation has been a handful of Senate Republicans who sided with most Democrats to oppose any immigration bill that doesn't include a guest-worker program and provisions to grant citizenship to the majority of the illegal alien population.

Some, however, are having second thoughts as the November midterm elections near.

Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn said 'If our only options are a half a loaf or no loaf, then I'd be inclined to take half a loaf.’ The Texas Republican is one who had been a leading advocate of comprehensive immigration reform for years.

'If all we could get through is border security and work-site enforcement, I could support that,' Cornyn said.

Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, another stalwart Republican opposed to the border-security-only approach, said he's 'not sure' how he would vote on such a bill now.

'I'd like to see us do something. I'd like to see us do something comprehensive,' he said. 'But I would look at it.'

Even Sen. Mel Martinez, the Florida Republican who wrote the compromise bill that ultimately passed the Senate, has softened to the idea.  'It really would depend on what it looked like,' he said yesterday.

Such legislation could also pick up a few Democrats. A handful already have expressed public support for a straight border-security bill. And yesterday, Sen. Mark Pryor, the Arkansas Democrat who has supported comprehensive legislation, said yesterday he would consider a border bill.

Martinez acknowledged that, without a major immigration bill passing both chambers, Republicans have a problem on their hands heading into November.

'It was a serious risk when we left here in July with this cocky attitude that this would be a better political issue for us if we get nothing done on it,' he said. 'That was a real mistake.'

That vulnerability was clear yesterday with Frist's 'next to impossible' statement about comprehensive reform.

Within hours, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat who has been on the forefront of immigration reform, issued a statement.

'How can Republicans say they are for making America safer when they can't even pass a comprehensive immigration-reform bill to protect our borders?'