WP: Immigration Pushes Apart GOP, Chamber

[Pirate Smile]

Immigration Pushes Apart GOP, Chamber

By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 14, 2005; Page A01

The House Republican leadership and the nation's business lobby, usually close allies, are battling each other over the issue of immigration.

In a rare schism, employer groups led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are pressing to kill a GOP-sponsored measure that would require businesses to verify that all of their workers are in the United States legally and would increase penalties for hiring illegal employees.

-snip-
Business interests and congressional Republicans have sometimes differed in recent years, but usually on relatively minor matters. The Chamber doesn't want every aspect of the USA Patriot Act to be extended for example, and GOP leaders have been reluctant to extend terrorism reinsurance legislation, which is a top priority of several corporate groups.

But those disputes haven't produced the kind of showdown that is threatening in the House this week. Lobbyists reached yesterday couldn't remember the last time that prominent business groups listed a vote against the Republican leadership as a "key vote" determining their organizations' view of a lawmaker's record.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/13/AR2005121301706.html

[tularetom]

1. Congressmen need the votes

but their corporate masters need the cheap labor. And they buy the congressmen. So my guess is the congressmen will back down and find a way to rationalize killing this bill to their constituents who will lose their jobs to the lower paid iimmigrants.

[MrTriumph]

2. Yeah, look for Repub. congresspersons to back down. Spineless

Spinelessness must be contagious.

[bluestateguy]

3. Pass the popcorn: xenophobes vs. cheap labor conservatives

n/t