Brownback Supports Senate Immigration Deal

Senator Sam Brownback joined Senator McCain and voiced support for the Senate's immigration deal during the third GOP presidential debate:

The dark-horse conservative said, "It's better than not doing anything."

With Brownback, Senators support the senate immigration deal by 16 to 6.

Here is the complete exchange from the transcript:

MR. BLITZER: [. . .] Senator Brownback, what do you say about this notion of a pathway towards citizenship for these 12 million illegal immigrants who are in the country right now? Under what circumstances would you let them begin that path?

SEN. BROWNBACK: I don’t think you create any new paths to citizenship. But I also think you allow them to be able to use paths they would currently qualify for, and to be able to get in the back of the line. And that’s part of leadership and getting something resolved.

I think — you know, we can go on a lot of slogans here. And I’ve been around this issue for a while. I was in Congress in 1994, elected then. We did the first immigration bill I was involved in then, in 1996. You know what, that was as enforcement-only bill in 1996, and we had 7 million undocumented in the country then. We’re at 12 (million) to 20 million now.

The point of saying that — and my colleagues and people up here, everybody is concerned that we get something done and get something right. I think if you do exterior enforcement, border enforcement, you do aggressive interior enforcement, and then you work on a comprehensive solution interior, that’s something that a lot of people are going to be upset with, but that can work and move us forward. And it’s better than not doing anything.

MR. BLITZER: Thank you. So you support this pending compromise legislation?

SEN. BROWNBACK: If we can hold together those things in it, those things have to be in it.

MR. BLITZER: So with — you’re with — you’re with Senator McCain?

SEN. BROWNBACK: If those things are in it.

Waiting For Obama

Barack Obama says immigration reform will have to wait for an Obama presidency:

“I’m not going to vote for something if I think ultimately that it’s going to repeat mistakes of the past and not going to solve the problem,” Obama told reporters Monday. “At the end of the day, if I don’t think it’s quite there, it’ll have to wait until I’m president.”

Obama's statement came after he and addressed 500 people gathered for the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s annual Rainbow PUSH Coalition conference.

Obama is concerned the temporary worker provision in the Senate deal would create “second-class workers” who would be forced to go home every two years without acquiring any rights. He is "unlikely to vote for an immigration reform measure this week unless changes are made to address his concerns about temporary workers."

Even with Obama's opposition, Senators syupport the senate immigration deal by three to one.

Immigration Deal Likely To Pass Senate

Contrary to conventional wisdom, after the week-long Memorial Day recess the Senate immigration deal looks more likely to pass the Senate:

After a week at home with their constituents, the Senate architects of a delicate immigration compromise are increasingly convinced that they will hold together this week to pass an overhaul of the nation's immigration laws, with momentum building behind one unifying theme: Today's immigration system is too broken to go unaddressed.

Congress's week-long Memorial Day recess was expected to leave the bill in tatters. But with a week of action set to begin today, the legislation's champions say they believe that the voices of opposition, especially from conservatives, represent a small segment of public opinion [emphasis added].

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds that Americans are far more open to the deal than the voices of opposition would indicate. Those polled said they would support a program giving illegal immigrants the right to stay and work in the United States if they pay a fine and meet other requirements, 52 t0 44 percent.

The poll found a partisan divide when people were asked what factors should be weighed the most in admitting immigrants. Democrats tended to say that reuniting immigrant families should be given priority, while Republicans were more likely to say that the skills of the immigrant should be paramount. The survey also found that those who oppose a Senate legalization proposal give a much higher priority to the issue of immigration than those who favor it in some form.

As of Monday morning I could find only 19 Senators that taken a firm public position on the bill. Those Senators support the bill by a margin of 15 to 4.

There will be plenty of arm twisting in the senate this week as the more proposed amendments threaten the deal:

Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), will push to make the Department of Homeland Security consider more of the family-based immigration applications that have already been filed, adding 833,000 immigrants.

Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), has an amendment that would more than double the number of green cards available under the bill for the parents of U.S. citizens.

John Cornyn (R-Tex.), wants to expand the list of crimes making illegal immigrants ineligible for legalization. Cornyn has emphasized infractions such as gang activity and "aggravated felonies."

Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), would like to prohibit illegal immigrants who are legalized under the law from obtaining the earned-income tax credit to bolster low-income work.

Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) would allow reunification green cards to be granted to the spouses and minor children of lawful permanent residents, not just U.S. citizens.

Robert Menendez and Barack Obama (D-Ill.), would attach a sunset date to the new point system that awards green cards based more on education and skill levels than on family connections.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.), will seek to prevent illegal immigrants who earn legal status under the bill from claiming Social Security benefits for the time they worked illegally.

The passage of any of these amendments could cause supporters of the Senate's deal to withdraw support.