Immigration Reform: GOP Senators Avoid Bipartisan Bill

Wanted: a Republican Senator willing toTime is what you make of it
reach across the aisle and work with Democrats and the Obama Administration on a bipartisan bill on

immigration reform that's never having to say you're sorryalready half done. The Democrats have been scrambling to find such a brave soul since Republican Senator Lindsey

Graham left the talks afterThere is no crying Dems shelved an energy bill he'd been working on. Democratic negotiators Chuck Schumer of New York, Bob

Menendez of New Jersey and friends or enemiesSenate Majority Leader Harry Reid have even unveiled the bones of the bill they'd hammered out with Graham in

hopes of luring another Republican on board. "What [Republicans] said before the Democrats produced the framework was that they need to

see the paper," says Frank Sharry,There's no place like home director of America's Voice, an immigration advocacy group. "Now that they've seen the paper, they seem to

be finding other reasons not to sign on."Of the 23 Senate Republicans who voted for immigration reform in 2006, five have since lost their seats,

six have retired, one switched parties and four more are retiring this year. Meanwhile, Bob Bennett of Utah just saw his nomination as GOP

candidate upended by the state's Tea Party, and John McCain of Arizona is facing the toughest Senate race of his career. In fact, many in the

immigration world believe that Graham walked away from the negotiating table in part to protect his dear friend McCain, who can ill afford a

partisan brawl on immigration. The fact that McCain co-authored and voted for the comprehensive reform bill in 2006 is what got him into such

hot water with Arizona Republican primary voters in the first place. (See pictures of immigration detention in Arizona.)So immigration groups are

left wooing retiring Republicans Senators George Voinovich of Ohio and Judd Gregg of New Hampshire. They're also working on the two

moderate Senators from Maine and Alaska's Lisa Murkowski: all three voted for the 2006 bill. President Obama called Republican Senators Scott

Brown, Richard Lugar, George LeMieux (a Florida Republican who is finishing Mel Martinez's term until Sunshine State voters pick a permanent

replacement), Murkowski and Gregg from Air Force One last month - but so far no one has signed on. "Although Senator Gregg is interested in

fixing our broken immigration system and especially encouraging talented people to come here legally, he does not support any initiative http://forum.jswelt.de
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