Good.
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), a key opponent to the bipartisan immigration bill that will be taken up again next week, said Sunday that support for the legislation “continues to erode.”
Sessions noted that some of the senators that had supported the compromise in a series of votes when the bill was first discussed are now beginning to shift their position.
“We’re going to use every effort to slow this process down and continue to hold up the bill and read it to the American people and show them that even though they may favor the ideals of the legislation that the legislation won’t get us there,” Sessions said. “And we’re going to need a national commitment from the president through the Congress, really a mindset change, in which we say, ‘We can make this system lawful.’”
Sessions is right, as shown by the latest Rasmussen Poll about the issue, the latest in a long line of polls saying the same thing.
As the Senate prepares to resume debate the “comprehensive” immigration reform bill, the legislation continues to face broad public opposition. In fact, despite a massive White House effort, public opinion has barely moved since the public uproar stalled the bill just over two weeks ago.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 22% of American voters currently favor the legislation. That’s down a point from 23% a couple of weeks ago and down from 26% when the debate in the Senate began. Fifty percent (50%) oppose the Senate bill while 28% are not sure.
Why the discontent and opposition to this bill?
Because those of us that have read the bill, understand that it is a bad bill that does nothing to protect our country and one has to wonder why we are not more interested in enforcing our current laws before trying to pass an immigration reform policy that has no chance of working nor keeping us safe.
The Corner brings us the latest news on the cloture vote:
Just spoke to a spokesman for a Republican opposed to the deal, and helping lead the opposition. Here's what we know right now:
1. Tomorrow is the first test, on the vote to bring it back to the floor. Deal supporters need 60. Opponents think they have about 33-35 right now, so they only need about five to seven more. Kirkorian's earlier Corner post was praised for its accuracy.
Some Republicans on the fence are going to try to have it both ways - vote to bring it back to the floor, so they can get their amendments considered, but not necessarily promise to vote for a) cloture to cut off debate and b) passage. Nonetheless, bill opponents should not forgive a vote to bring it back to the floor, I'm told. They're within a few votes of killing the deal before it comes back; why take the chance on a later vote?
2. The fact that senators are announcing how they will vote on a "procedural" vote is a huge sign of how much pressure they're feeling. For opponents, it's reason for very cautious optimism.
3. A loss tomorrow means there are still two more chances to kill the bill; still, a good opportunity will have been missed.
4. The cloture vote may come before, or after, consideration of certain amendments. Skeptics should not be all that impressed with amendments approved by Reid and Kennedy. Less likely than "poison pills" are "fig leaf" amendments that improve the bill in cosmetic ways, but don't significantly address the real problems with the bill.
A second Corner piece tells us that Senator Webb's office told one of their readers that he will be voting NO for cloture...we shall see.
Hot Air is keeping excellent track of what is going on and updating, so, do to the problems I am having today, shown here, Hot Air is where you should head to see the updates.
Keep the pressure on your Senators and even your representatives in the house until this bill is in the garbage can where it belongs.
[Update] More from Secure Borders Now on the Illegal Immigration issue here and here.
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