Kennedy disappoints some allies (on immighration)

Kennedy disappoints some allies

By Carl Hulse. Copyright by The New York Times

THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 2006

WASHINGTON To Senator Edward Kennedy, the complex issue of immigration policy is simple enough.

"We are the land of opportunity," he said. "Our streets may not be paved with gold, but they are paved with the promise that men and women who live here, even strangers and newcomers, can rise as fast, as far as their skills will allow."

While those words could have been part of his speech Monday to those rallying on the National Mall here, they were delivered more than 40 years ago on the floor of the Senate as the Massachusetts Democrat managed his first major piece of legislation - an immigration bill.

Decades later, the liberal leader and descendant of Irish immigrants is back in the thick of another immigration fight, pushing aggressively for a bipartisan compromise that would toughen border security while providing a route to legal status for millions of illegal residents. And some of the fight is with his Democratic colleagues.

Kennedy's drive to strike a deal with Republicans is making some in his party nervous.

Some said they worried that the senator, in his desire to bring about immigration law changes, will cede too much to Republicans and the end product will fall short on the guest worker and citizenship provisions favored by most Democrats.
They said they believed that Kennedy made similar miscalculations when he cut deals with Republicans on Medicare drug coverage and education policy.

"Just about everyone in the caucus is worried that without safeguards, this is headed into an unfair, unbalanced bill," said one Democratic senator, who did not want to be identified in discussing internal criticism of Kennedy.

Republicans acknowledge that Kennedy served as a valuable ally last week when he broke with the Democratic leadership in its efforts to blame Republican recalcitrance for the collapse of the immigration legislation. In a split with Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, Kennedy said he was sympathetic to the Republican demand to offer amendments - a key sticking point with Democrats.

"He certainly helped, by our lights," said Eric Ueland, chief of staff to Senator Bill Frist, the majority leader, "to make it a more truthful understanding of what happened, and that leaves the door open for us when we come back."

In an effort to improve their prospects, Frist and the House speaker, J. Dennis Hastert, said Tuesday that they would drop one of the most contentious provisions from a House-passed bill, a proposal that would make unlawful presence in the United States a felony.

The subject of immigration runs deep in Kennedy family lore. According to a biography by Adam Clymer that focused on Kennedy's legislative accomplishments, the senator used to regale his staff with how his grandfather, John Fitzgerald, had opposed a literacy requirement on new immigrants while serving in the House in 1897.

As a senator, John F. Kennedy opposed quotas on immigrants from outside Western Europe, a cause Kennedy and another brother, Robert, pursued as members of the Senate. They took on Southern lawmakers who objected to giving Africans the same opportunity to immigrate as citizens of Britain.

"This is one of his core issues, one of the things he has been concerned about the longest," said Clymer, a former reporter for The New York Times, whose book recounted Kennedy's 1965 speech.

As public outrage over increasing illegal immigration has soared in recent years, Kennedy joined with Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, to find a solution that went beyond border controls to making accommodations for some of the millions of working illegal immigrants who have become part of their communities.

The pair of veteran lawmakers managed to bring other influential senators on board and presented a comprehensive plan that provided part of the framework for legislation approved by the Judiciary Committee.

Although that plan met resistance from Senate Republicans who viewed it as an amnesty for those who entered the country illegally, the Senate announced a tentative deal that embraced a version of the Kennedy-McCain approach.

But it lasted only hours. Frist, confronted by angry members of his party, insisted on the opportunity to allow consideration of some amendments. Democrats balked.

In a meeting last Thursday in Reid's office, Kennedy argued for moving ahead with the bill, confident that the votes were there to beat back objectionable changes and that the debate could build momentum for the measure.

But Reid and other Democrats countered that the amendments were meant to derail the bill. They feared that without some assurances by Frist on negotiations with the House, the bill could be hijacked by Republicans. Kennedy lost.

A top aide to Reid said Tuesday that he was still determined to get a bill.

Kennedy said Tuesday that he believed the setback was temporary.

"I think the momentum in our caucus is strongly in favor of immigration; there is a difference on tactics," he said. He noted that the situation was far different for Republicans, who are split over the idea of allowing illegal residents a chance to qualify for citizenship.

As he took in the immigration rally on Monday, Kennedy said he heard the echoes of the civil rights movement and concluded that change was inevitable.

"There is too much velocity to deny it," Kennedy said. "This is an extraordinary grass-roots movement and I think it is really one that we will have to answer."