Immigration measure’s opponents hope delays will kill bipartisan bill
Leading Capitol Hill opponents of a Senate proposal to overhaul the nation’s immigration system are coalescing around a strategy to kill the bill by delaying the legislative process as long as possible, providing time to offer “poison pill” amendments aimed at breaking apart the fragile bipartisan group that developed the plan, according to lawmakers and legislative aides.
The tactics, used successfully by opponents of an immigration bill during a 2007 debate in the Senate, are part of an effort to exploit public fissures over core components of the comprehensive legislation introduced Tuesday by eight lawmakers who spent months negotiating the details.
The authors of the bill, which was expected to be filed Tuesday night, are planning to formally embrace it in a joint news conference as early as Wednesday, a move designed to build momentum for the plan. But conservative critics cautioned Tuesday that the legislative process must not be rushed.
An open process “is essential to gaining public confidence in the content of the bill. We know it’s complicated,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), the top GOP member on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s immigration subcommittee. “I can’t see any reason to undermine confidence by trying to jam it through without adequate time for people to read it and to hear from their constituents.”
full: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/immigration-measures-opponents-hope-delays-will-kill-bipartisan-bill/2013/04/16/f3b89658-a6a2-11e2-8302-3c7e0ea97057_story.html
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