Today the so-called "Gang of Eight" immigration reform bill advanced and received a wide thumbs up vote in the U. S. Senate.
Politico describes it this way:
The Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly agreed to launch a major effort
to rewrite U.S. immigration laws, setting the stage for weeks of debate
on securing the nation’s borders, legalizing undocumented residents and
modernizing the country’s immigration system.
Senators voted 82-15
to move forward on the Gang of Eight immigration bill; 60 votes were
needed for passage. All 15 votes against the motion were from
Republicans. The bill cleared a second procedural vote later Tuesday.
The overwhelming bipartisan vote gives the Gang of Eight room to
negotiate, but finding an acceptable approach to tightening border
security is emerging as major challenge for the bipartisan coalition.
Part of the negotiation process will be about including same sex bi-national couples with the same immigration rights as married heterosexual couples. To make sure this happens, Senator Patrick Leahy filed an amendment for this purpose. Here are highlights from
Politico on the ammendment:
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy is trying again on immigration and gay rights.
The
Vermont Democrat filed an amendment to the Gang of Eight immigration
bill on Tuesday that would allow gay U.S. citizens to petition their
foreign spouses to become permanent residents. He had withdrawn the
measure after an emotional debate during the committee markup, after
several Democrats said they would vote against his amendment in order to
preserve the overall bill.
Seeking equal protection under our laws for the LGBT community is the
right thing to do,” Leahy said in a statement Tuesday. “I withheld my
anti-discrimination amendment during the Senate Judiciary Committee
markup. As the entire Senate turns to debate the immigration bill, the
fight for equality must go on.”
It is unclear whether Leahy’s proposal will get a vote. Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch
McConnell (R-Ky.) have yet to reach an agreement on amendments.
And the political dynamics for Leahy’s amendment are different on the
floor. In the committee, the amendment would have required just a
simple majority for it to pass. On the floor, it will almost certainly
need 60 votes.
If Democrats do not support the Leahy amendment, in my view, they need to pay a price in terms of votes and money. I seem to be on every national level Democrat committee donor mailing list known to man and I am now routinely reply to ask for money with a statement that (i) no money will be forth coming until gays are covered under the immigration reform act and Obama signs an ENDA executive order for federal employees and (ii) please remove me from the mailing list. The boyfriend and I are supporting state level candidates - a McAuliffe staffer has been living in our home for a month now - but the Democrats at the federal level can kiss my ass until they put blather into actual action. They don't get it that "support" is a two way street.
No comments:
Post a Comment