class=”textlink”>Everyone’s talking about the immigration bill, as well they should be. It sounds like a complete train wreck to me, and to many others.
I always want to judge for myself though, and so I’m keeping a watch out for when the actual text of the bill becomes available online — which I hear might be sometime today. The government printing office has, however, provided hard copies to Senate offices for their review.
So until all us lowly citizens can actually read the thing, I present you with the photo below, taken by a friendly staffer, which provides a nice visual aid to the size and scope of the monstrosity:
Yes, that’s the Bible next to the bill, and yes, the bill is bigger than it. The copy shown is about 400 pages, although I’m told that the final version will balloon up to near 1000 pages once it is printed in the “official” format.
Do you think maybe we might want to take more than a day or so to quickly skim through this thing? Just a thought. As my staffer friend quipped, “The immigration bill is bigger than the Bible, and we’ve had a few thousand years to read through that.”
Stay tuned for more updates, including (hopefully) the full text of the bill…
Update: To be clear, this is not being declared the “final” text of the bill, but it is the current draft. To quote my source again, “we probably won’t get final text until after we vote on the stupid thing.”
Your democracy at work!
Update Friday p.m.: So I’ve spent a decent chunk of time today observing the reactions to the immigration deal, and I’ve come to a conclusion: this parrot is dead.
Dead, dead dead. An ex-parrot. It has, indeed, ceased to be.
The grand immigration “deal” is going absolutely nowhere. Why? A few data points.
One: The Republican base hates it. Hates hates hates it.
Two: Harry Reid (yes, that Harry Reid) is lukewarm at best. Check this out, via RedState:
Thursday, May 17, 2007
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada issued the following statement in response to the bipartisan agreement on immigration reform:
“I applaud the hard work of the bipartisan group of Senators who have proposed a new approach to comprehensive immigration reform. Their agreement can serve as a starting point for the Senate debate next week. I have serious concerns about some aspects of this proposal, including the structure of the temporary worker program and undue limitations on family immigration. We need to improve the bill as it moves through the legislative process.
Say whaa? The Senate Majority leader has “serious concerns”? Kinda a stumbling block for a grand compromise, isn’t it?
Three: The prospects in the House aren’t all that bright either:
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., acknowledging deep divisions on immigration among Democrats, says she won’t bring it up unless President Bush can guarantee he will produce 70 Republican backers—a tall order given GOP concerns that the bill is too lenient.
Four: The bill text isn’t even done yet. As I stated earlier, the lovely copy in the photo above is just a draft — final language is still being hammered out (somewhere, by someone). That tells me that there are still huge opportunities for the grand bargain to collapse as the dirty details of the language are nailed down.
Does this mean that everyone should relax? No, it means everyone should call their Senators with renewed vigor, because this thing actually can be stopped. So get to it!
Ugh. They want to get it on the floor before markups. If they can punch it through and get it funded right on the turnaround, it will be sacrament by October.
Another appropriate analogy, I hope.
The entire US Code, is about four times that volume.
Not to be a smart-ass, but The Bible is often printed on very thin paper and usually runs in the 1000 page range. While your point is well taken, the photo is misleading.
Oh Jane, don’t be pedantic. I didn’t mean that we did a word-count and the bill truly has more text than the Bible. It’s just a visual metaphor, not meant to be taken literally…
All 50 sections of the U.S. Code, unannotated, easily take up an entire bookshelf at a law library.
And let’s not forget the Code of Federal Regulations.
And Bibles have print on both sides of their very thin pages – that bill probably doesn’t. I’m also guessing that Bible’s print is a good deal smaller, too, and with much smaller margins than what I see on that top page.
I know its shocking that any text just might be bigger than the Bah-bul. But often they are, especially before it gets out of subcommittee.
Wait ’til you look at The Stand or Lord of the Rings. Your friendly staffer’s head will explode.
DU
DU: Jeez, rough room today. Can we all agree that the sucker is simply big and deserves a bit o’ time to be reviewed properly?
Pretty please?
We’re toast in the Senate;
35 TOPS
those who attempted the filibuster last year.
Allard (R-CO)
Allen (R-VA) GONE
Bond (R-MO) GONE
Bunning (R-KY)
Burns (R-MT) GONE
Burr (R-NC)
Byrd (D-WV)
Chambliss (R-GA) HELPED WRITE THIS YEAR’S BILL
Coburn (R-OK)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Dole (R-NC)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Ensign (R-NV)
Grassley (R-IA)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA) HELPED WRITE THIS YEAR’S BILL
Roberts (R-KS)
Santorum (R-PA) GONE
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Sununu (R-NH)
Talent (R-MO)GONE
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Not Voting – 2
Enzi (R-WY) BEHOLDEN TO BIG AGRI
Rockefeller (D-WV)
We’re toast in the Senate;
35 TOPS
those who attempted the filibuster last year.
Allard (R-CO)
Allen (R-VA) GONE
Bond (R-MO) GONE
Bunning (R-KY)
Burns (R-MT) GONE
Burr (R-NC)
Byrd (D-WV)
Chambliss (R-GA) HELPED WRITE THIS YEAR’S BILL
Coburn (R-OK)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Dole (R-NC)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Ensign (R-NV)
Grassley (R-IA)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA) HELPED WRITE THIS YEAR’S BILL
Roberts (R-KS)
Santorum (R-PA) GONE
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Sununu (R-NH)
Talent (R-MO)GONE
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Not Voting – 2
Enzi (R-WY) BEHOLDEN TO BIG AGRI
Rockefeller (D-WV)
“Can we all agree that the sucker is simply big and deserves a bit o’ time to be reviewed properly?”
Heck yeah. I would love for there to be a seven day waiting period for all legislation. Once it comes out of committee, seven days before a floor vote. That will give both legislators and citizens time to dig into it.
“We’re toast in the Senate;
35 TOPS
those who attempted the filibuster last year.
Allard (R-CO)
Allen (R-VA) GONE
Bond (R-MO) GONE”
Bond is still in the Senate.
We are toast…period.
I am so angry at the total amnesty of this bill, where are the leaders who care about our country. Hope everyone enjoys the Dems leading the country to socialism in the future,who is going to pay for all of the benefits these Illegal Aliens will require and get. I don’t care how large the bill is compared to the bible, I just wish our earstwhile senators would listen to we little people who pay the bills.
I am so angry at the total amnesty of this bill, where are the leaders who care about our country. Hope everyone enjoys the Dems leading the country to socialism in the future,who is going to pay for all of the benefits these Illegal Aliens will require and get. I don’t care how large the bill is compared to the bible, I just wish our earstwhile senators would listen to we little people who pay the bills.
And if we didn’t know before, we know now that McVain’s real moniker is McFail. Don’t his actions remind you of those of another traitor? I mean of two-sided Jane Fonda?
I want everyone to know that God told us in the Bible that in the last days “The Foreigners among you will dominate you, and you will be their slave”! Nuff said; I can only hope that all these bums get thrown out coming next election.
Dead On Arrival?
Is the Immigration Bill DOA when it hits the House? Update: As Hugh Hewitt writes, “N.Z. Bear has the picture worth 1,000 posts”….
Whether it’s the size of the bible or the size of “The Old Man & The Sea” is irrelevant. The more relevant point is that they’re keeping the whole thing under wraps. They’re not gunna have time to read the thing before they’re expected to vote on cloture. The opponents of the bill aren’t gunna get to see the thing and make it’s ingredients well-known to the public.
This is the age of the internet. Surely the thing was printed from a computer file. Why not just post that file online? That’s not too tough to do, but they haven’t done it.
Last time around, one of the most effective arguments was made by Senator Sessions, who simply read aloud all the handouts the bill included – including giving illegals social security credit for the years the spent working illegally, often under an assumed name. This time, neither Sessions nor anyone else is gunna have time to read the bill and find all the objectionable material in it – and I suspect that’s deliberate.
“We’re toast in the Senate;
35 TOPS
those who attempted the filibuster last year.
Allard (R-CO)
Allen (R-VA) GONE
Bond (R-MO) GONE”
But the point to remember is that many of their replacements – McCaskill, Webb, Tester, etc. – ran on border security. There are also a whole lot of open borders senators who could be vulnerable in ’08: Pryor, Landrieu, Baucus, Craig, Graham, Harkin, Hagel, Rockefeller, Levin, etc.
The fight ain’t over. Nope – it ain’t over by a mile.
After this bill is signed Illegals will automatically be legal and you cannot deport them from their home the United States. That is the double speak in this bill. Check it out. Also the amnesty is not only for MEXICAN ILLEGALS but for future Mohammed Ata’s. etal.
“After this bill is signed Illegals will automatically be legal and you cannot deport them from their home the United States. That is the double speak in this bill. Check it out. Also the amnesty is not only for MEXICAN ILLEGALS but for future Mohammed Ata’s. etal.”
Aye, but there’s the rub, no?
They’re telling us “amnesty for enforcement.”
Enforcement against WHOM? Since everyone illegal will be made legal, there’s no one left to deport. There are 15-20 million people who will get these cards, which will take years to process (they’re not gunna automatically appear in everyone’s wallet overnight.) So anyone who comes in illegally in the next several years is automatically legal. And enforcement begins WHEN?
Another big problem is this: a lot of enforcement is about odds. Now, if you have a person who is a) Hispanic and b) can’t speak English very well, there’s a very very very good chance he’s here illegally. One in two, maybe; one in three, easily.
Guess what? After the amnesty, the odds go to zero. Why bother trying to check people’s papers when only 1 time out of 10,000 they’ll be here illegally? The return on the cost of enforcement rapidly approaches zero. It won’t be worthwhile anymore. When will it become worthwhile again? When we have millions of new illegals: “too many to deport,” they’ll say.
Lather, rinse, repeat: Ted Kennedy, 2018 (does this guy never go away?): “This bill does not significantly alter our cities. They will not be flooded with tens of millions of new immigrants. This is a one-time, never before, never again amnesty. Americans now living in huts will not be forced to live in holes in the ground. Each American will have AT LEAST 8 ounces of water per day. Commutes to work will not grow longer than the reasonable 3 hours each way.”
Dollars to donuts it’s considerably less readable and more obscure than the Bible as well.
Who was in favor of the “nuclear option” just a few years ago? Wanna raise your hands now?
“Who was in favor of the “nuclear option” just a few years ago? Wanna raise your hands now?” –
I still am. That was in reference to nominations, not legislation, or didn’t you read the entire debate?
I am afraid that waiting for the next election will be too late. We should all start a recall on all senators and rep’s now.
Since they don’t have the political fortitude to stand up for America we must now take our country back and almost start over.
Don’t look at party lines but just make big change. The way it is now is not working at all.
we changed congress and thats not working either.
Not only is this amnesty, but it changes demographics in the country. It’s about time we throw all of them out on their ear. Anyone think it might be time for a new political party that will actually stand up for citizens of this country?
mortgage quote bad
As a Georgia citizen , I can say that Isakson and Chambliss will be toast in the state of Georgia this year . TYVM
Not only is this amnesty, but it changes demographics in the country. It’s about time we throw all of them out on their ear. Anyone think it might be time for a new political party that will actually stand up for citizens of this country?