Immigration bill fails the Senate 45-50

Who are the real winners and losers of the comprehensive immigration bill?

Robin's Commentary
Remember the old rule, "follow the money"? Perhaps that question should be asked of Senator Kennedy and President Bush as they both tried so hard to pass the “immigration Reform" bill.

The question is, why didn't the immigration reform bill pass? Was it because Congress realized that the real issue was the fact that people by the millions every year across our borders illegally and infiltrating our infrastructure or was it some other self-serving reason, like cheap labor and big profits?

Nevertheless, the question at hand is what to do about the millions of people that "slipped" into our country illegally for whatever reason.

The quandary is, do we reward people who have broken our laws merely by their presence in this country? If so, then what message does that really send to our children??[shameless buzzword]

"If enough people are violating the law, don't worry about it, it's OK"

Despite the results of the vote, according to some, the immigration bill is not dead.

" "No, it's not dead. Defeat is not an option "said Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar in an interview with CNN {the Minutemen civil Defense Corps's}--

Senior State officials and Lawmakers believe that the bill had less than a 50-50 chance of being resurrected, and that there's already talk about considering separate issues such as provisions among agricultural workers and education aid for certain immigrant children. [Buzzword]

" “The White House has so far failed to rally Senate Republicans behind tough, fair and practical immigration reform,” Senate majority leader Harry Reid said in a statement Friday. “I will bring the immigration bill back to the Senate floor as soon as enough Republicans are ready to join us in moving forward on a bill to fix our broken immigration system.” "{New York Times}--

Locally, it was surprising [at least to me] that the Senator Gordon Smith, who's been an advocate for illegal immigration, voted against the bill, however, his cohort on the other side of the aisle, Democratic Senator Ron Wyden voted in favor.

Senator Smith, said that he supported the concept of the immigration Reform, however added the "devil is in the details." Ron Wyden on the other hand believes that the first thing an immigration bill must do is focus on border protection.

"After that make sure that laws on the books are enforced," Wyden said. "If employers knowingly hire illegals they ought to be punished." {The Oregonian}--

Republican Senator Mike Crapo of Idaho also voted against the bill stating that he was concerned about a provision for a temporary work program because it would give an unfair advantage to people who entered the country illegally.

"I continue to believe a person should not gain an advantage or benefit toward citizenship or legal permanent resident status as a result of illegal entry into the United States," Crapo said. "This only encourages further illegal immigration." "{The Oregonian}--

All this actually distracts from the real issue, that millions of people have illegally bypassed the due process of law and violated the security of our borders for their own personal gain, while at the same time, the United States selectively failed to enforce those laws for financial gains.

The damage is done. So how do you fix the problem?

I agree with Representative Steve Kings suggestion about amending HR3095 which would amend the internal revenue code of 1986 to clarify that wages paid to unauthorized aliens may not be deducted from gross income..."

In short, take the money equation out of the issue, and it should solve itself.