Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Graham Threatens (Sort of): Lindsey Graham, one of the most prominent proponents of the Senate "grand bargain" now threatens to pull his support of the bill if his supposed "touchback" amendment is not accepted, according to this CQ story:

South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham, a Republican negotiator of the compromise legislation, said he would withdraw his support if the chamber fails to adopt one of the amendments he has offered. Graham’s proposal would require at least all illegal immigrants’ heads of households to “touchback” in their country of origin within three years of the bill’s enactment and before they receive Z visas that enable them to stay indefinitely in the United States.

But he's not threatening so much:

Graham said his position to back away from the bill if the amendment is not adopted should not be interpreted as speaking for the coalition of senators, the so-called gang of 12, that put the bill together.

“That means Lindsey Graham won’t vote for it,” he said. “What I have tried to do is put together an amendment at the end to address legitimate constructive criticism that will make this bill much stronger in the enforcement arena.”

So he might vote against the bill--but he's not saying he'll vote against cloture. And many skeptics of the bill think the "touchback" proposal is "fraud." Still, one wonders if even Graham is worried about his dropping approval ratings as a result of his support for this bill...