A cloture vote on the immigration bill has failed on a 45-50 vote. A majority of Republicans voted against cloture, which permits more debate and additional amendments. Obviously Congress needs to take measures to improve immigration, but the comprehensive compromise is not the way to go. With this defeat, perhaps Congress can move on to more serious measures. Perhaps they'll secure the border, in part by building the fence that Congress authorized and funded last year, and by bolstering the Border Patrol. Perhaps they'll fix the visa program, which Congress wanted done by 2005, and take measures to punish businesses who hire illegal immigrants. Congress has a lot of work ahead of itself to rebuild its credibility.
On another note, Harry Reid is telling reporters that he gave the bill plenty of time for debate, but Republicans are wanting too many amendments and are asking for too much time in their legislative schedule. This from a political party that took 108 days to pass a spending bill for our troops in Iraq? He's willing to have fifteen weeks of debate over spending, seven times longer than he's allowing for an overhaul of our immigration system. He's blaming the defeat on the GOP, despite the fact that ten Democrats voted against cloture.
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