New Immigration Bill Making Progress; Is 'Clay Pigeon' Really an Emu?
An effort to pass landmark immigration legislation failed in the last Congress, and there is no guarantee that it will pass this time around either. But some forward progress is being made on a new version of a bill that would provide millions of now-illegal immigrants currently in the U.S. a path to American citizenship.
Backed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s biggest business lobby, a Senate version of the legislation appears poised to move forward, despite significant opposition from both sides of the aisle, the Wall Street Journal reports.
To woo support, proposed amendments have been added including plans to improve border security and restrict immigration for those not already here, the article continues.
An unusual “clay pigeon” technique is being used that allows amendments to proceed individually if the overall package is shot down and shattered into as many as 24 pieces that can be picked up by legislative leadership. However, as new amendments have been added, making the “pigeon” more cumbersome, the Journal writes, some legislators have taken to calling it “the clay emu–a name that also suggests ominously that it won’t fly.”
Houston Chronicle (Senate resuscitates immigration bill).
Washington Post (Senate votes to resume immigration debate).
