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We are making some progress on the immigration front.
They didn't get a lot of publicity amid the last minute wrangling over driver's licenses for illegal aliens, but the Intelligence Reform Bill passed last Wednesday did contain some major improvements over the current situation, and more were promised for early next year as part of the compromise process.
Joel Mowbray writes in The Washington Times: Security lost and found
Lost in the flood of attention focused on the defeats suffered by House conservatives — most notably Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner — in the recently passed intelligence bill are some key security-related provisions that made the final cut, despite being initially ignored or opposed by the Senate.
While it's true that Mr. Sensenbrenner lost his bid to close security loopholes that could be exploited — particularly drivers licenses for illegal aliens that could be used to board flights — he was perhaps the biggest winner in terms of ensuring the inclusion of controversial clauses in the bipartisan bill.
Ironically, the steely Wisconsin Republican scored several significant victories precisely because his even more controversial immigration provisions dominated the Democrats' focus.
Notes one veteran Capitol Hill aide: "We wouldn't have won the criminal law changes if the Democrats didn't have to direct all their fire at the immigration stuff."
What did Mr. Sensenbrenner win? Plenty.
[Read the rest here.]
Christian Bourge, in the World Peace Herald: U.S. Congress quietly approves border guard buildup
The major pieces of legislation approved by U.S. lawmakers this week highlight how there is typically a host of unadvertised and surprising provisions in laws approved by Congress, particularly in the large, must-pass pieces of legislation.
The massive overhaul of the national intelligence system, the $388 billion fiscal 2005 appropriations bill and other measures approved this week contain a litany of provisions not hyped by lawmakers along with a few unexpected additions, both controversial and not.
Beyond the traditional pork spending and special-interest favors that appear in most major pieces of legislation, there are a few interesting tidbits.
[Read the rest here.]
Hat tip for the above: Michelle Malkin
From Human Events Online: Hastert to Make Driver's License Bill Top Priority
House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R.-Ill.) has promised disgruntled conservatives that the House's top priority in the 109th Congress is passing legislation that bars illegal aliens from obtaining driver's licenses, language the Senate stripped from the just-passed intelligence bill.
House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R.-Wis.), a strong proponent of the driver's license provision, secured Hastert's assurance once House leaders agreed to vote on the intelligence bill last week. Sensenbrenner helped thwart a November 20 vote on the legislation because the provision was removed.
Hastert's spokesman, John Feehery, said the speaker wouldn't hesitate about attaching the language to an Iraq supplemental bill, which President Bush is expected to request early next year. "We're going to do everything we can to get it on there," Feehery [said].
[Read the rest here.]
I'll have some thoughts on this ready for a follow-up post in a few minutes.
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