From the AP, via Breitbart.com:
Key senators and the White House reached agreement Thursday on an immigration overhaul that would grant quick legal status to millions of illegal immigrants already in the U.S. and fortify the border.
The plan would create a temporary worker program to bring new arrivals to the U.S. A separate program would cover agricultural workers. New high-tech enforcement measures also would be instituted to verify that workers are here legally.
The compromise came after weeks of painstaking closed-door negotiations (emphasis added) that brought the most liberal Democrats and the most conservative Republicans together with President Bush's Cabinet officers to produce a highly complex measure that carries heavy political consequences.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., said he expects Bush to endorse the agreement.
The accord sets the stage for what promises to be a bruising battle next week in the Senate on one of Bush's top non-war priorities.
The key breakthrough came when negotiators struck a bargain on a so- called "point system" that would for the first time prioritize immigrants' education and skill level over family connections in deciding how to award green cards.
The draft bill "gives a path out of the shadows and toward legal status for those who are currently here" illegally, said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
You mark my words: the Democrats will use this to bury us in '08...even though it's their type of legislation. This is the 1990 budget deal all over again.
McCain is done. Done. I love him. He's a true hero and, now, he will never be President.
And closed-door?!?!? I'm furious. There should be nothing from a legislative perspective that happens closed-effing-door. 70% or more of Americans want something substantive to happen on illegal immigration and, I'll tell you this my friends:
This. Ain't. It.
Shame on the Senate Republicans for bending over for the Libs.
Shame on George W. Bush.
They've just sold us down the river on this.
I'm about to call the White House and complain, and you should, too: 202-456-1111.
There's also great coverage at Hot Air, too.
UPDATE - 4:47pm EDT: U.S. Senator Jim DeMint of the Great State of South Carolina gets it: "This is Amnesty."
William Smith
ConservativeBlogger.com
