Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Post-Reid Letter Roundup   [Jim Geraghty]

A well-connected anti-deal GOP source on the Hill offers these five thoughts:

1. Opponents are around 35 votes right now.
2. First interesting point about Reid’s letter – he’s now demanding a tremendous amount of faith from amendment-dependent waverers. Will Reid keep their amendments as is, or will he alter them? Those who do vote to bring back the bill today, because they think they’ll get votes on their amendments are being naïve, this source contends, because Reid and Kennedy will not allow anything that would fundamentally change the bill.
3. Second interesting thing about Reid’s letter – so the GOP leadership is okay with this precedent-setting clay pigeon maneuver, even though it prevents Republicans from altering the bill in any significant manner?
4. Reid’s “nothing is ever my fault” attitude continues. After the last cloture vote failed, Reid was quick to emphasize “The President failed.” On the clay pigeon, he points to McConnell as his partner on it. If this deal passes, he’ll be quick to take all the credit; “Democrats solved the problem of illegal immigration.” If it fails, he’ll once again blame the President’s inability to control those anti-Hispanic Republicans, etc…
5. There’s a slight downside to the House GOP voting to criticize the Senate deal – some GOP senators might think they can count on the House to improve or kill the bill. They shouldn’t do that; "that’s voting for amnesty without a net."

06/26 09:54 AMShare