Back on the burner
Thursday, June 28th, 2007
By Chris Fitzsimon
The immigration reform bill in Congress has been revived with support from a bipartisan Senate coalition and the White House. Standing against that encouraging step Tuesday was North Carolina’s senior senator, Republican Elizabeth Dole. But her Tar Heel colleague, Republican Richard Burr, at least voted to reopen debate. Burr will stand even taller if he puts himself constructively behind reform and helps fashion the compromises that will be necessary to gain the bill’s passage.
Dole, facing re-election next year, has cast her lot with those who oppose the bill, mainly because of their view that it extends amnesty to those who have entered the country illegally. (In a recent UPI-Zogby poll, 73 percent of respondents said major immigration reform is needed, suggesting that opposition to the bill, while vocal, hardly reflects a consensus.) A plain reading of the Senate measure dispels the amnesty notion. For instance, it levies fines on illegal immigrants who want to be able to remain here.
Dole actually has good reason to help boost the legislation. From a partisan point of view, it would help her fellow Republican, President Bush, for whom immigration reform is a chief domestic goal. (more…)
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